Like the Galaxy Wasn't Strange Enough Already
by MojoTheSpaceMonkey
Summary: Harry felt the need to start over after the wizarding world took that final step off the ledge to insanity. What better place to begin fresh than a new galaxy where he would be the only magical?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I'm a fan of both Harry Potter and Mass Effect, and noticed that no one ever put Harry in Andromeda. The purpose of this story is not just enjoyment, but hopefully inspiration. Maybe someone will say, "I can do better" and set out to prove it, so I can sit back and enjoy the story instead of being the one creating it. Either way, hope you are happy with it.

Chapter 1: Welcome to Your New Life!

"How can something so beautiful be so bloody boring?!" Harry used his wand to put another checkmark into the side of the bulkhead next to the window in the lounge area. He always seemed to end up there every time his dreamless sleep potion wore off. It was his own personal way to keep track of the number of times he had awaken on the 634 year trek across the stars on the Ark: Hyperion. Eventually getting bored of staring at nothing but darkness, Harry began to make his long journey towards the closest cafeteria that didn't require use of the currently offline tram system.

Making use of a liberal amount of alohomora and lumos spells, Harry navigated the darkened corridors that extended through the ship towards his destination. He had initially gotten lost during his first exploration on the ship and ended up taking over 36 hours to find something edible. Recording his route on his omnitool allowed him to make sure it wouldn't happen again. He guarded his omnitool as his third most prized possession, beaten in importance only by the elder wand and moleskin pouch he had inherited from Hermione. Tech and magic had never really interacted well, with the exception of runes, so Harry had to use his omnitool on his off casting hand to save it from overloading with magic. He had upgraded it before the trip with the best money could buy, and proceeded to digitally copy every book of magic in his possession, along with numerous games and music to help keep himself sane on the journey.

Harry sat down at his favorite table in the corner of the vast, darkened cafeteria with two prepackaged meals he had liberated from the dispenser. As he started rereading a book on advanced human transfiguration on his omnitool while absentmindedly eating, he couldn't help but reflect on just why the hell he was there in the first place. He enjoyed making drastic life changes without worrying about the consequences, but there was no takebacks on this one. He was stuck with this decision for the long-haul, or at least until they figured out how to send him back the way he had come.

In Harry's opinion, life after Voldemort had not lived up to his expectations at all. The parallels that he had seen between the magical and muggle worlds would have seemed ironic to him if hadn't had to live through them. After the 9\11 attacks had happen in 2001, America had become xenophobic towards those that it had perceived as threats and eventually closed its borders off to an entire religion as well as declaring war on multiple countries. Less than a year after, a muggleborn with parents that had immigrated from the Middle East, had become inspired by Al-Queda's attacks and decided to fight back against pureblood supremacy by using a runic bomb to blow up the Hogwarts Express.

The casualties from this had been over 75 children, and demanded a swift response from the DMLE. The suspect had escaped the aurors, but his entire extended muggle family living in London had been brought in and questioned extensively. They were kept in extended custody without trial in the ministry's holding cells for fear of possibly aiding the suspect while the search continued. This angered most of the muggleborn who protested the treatment of the innocent people, knowing purebloods would never be held without trial for extensive periods. The Minister of Magic simply responded that it was for the greater good of their society which was under attack.

As muggleborns became more enraged with the heavy handed efforts of the Ministry, terrorist attacks started to happen in magical locations around the world, as well as other places in England like Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. Tensions continued to rise until a drastic two-part solution was suggested by one of the ministry workers, and after debate, approved by the Wizengamot. The magical world was to be pulled back into itself and put behind a one-way fidelius based barrier. Leaving it would strip you of your magic, and there was no way in from the outside. This was purposed to the International Confederation of Wizards who unanimously approved it due to their own muggleborn terrorist attacks that they were dealing with as well. To power the barrier, the purebloods used a dark ritual to sacrifice the magic of the current and all future muggleborns.

Harry had opposed the decision vehemently with his friends and old schoolmates, but fear and bigotry drown out his voice to the rest of the wizarding population. In the end, the ritual had been completed in the department of mysteries before Harry had even been aware that it was occurring and could attempt to put a stop to it. Harry lost his best friend that day. As the magic left her body, he could do nothing but stay by her side and watch.

Harry tried to continue living in the magical community in a flat in Diagon Alley, but he wasn't able to rationalize away what the wizarding community had done. His rage was slowly building inside of him at the thought of his dead muggleborn friends like Hermione, Dean Thomas, the Creevy brothers who had died as their magic was stripped from them. It didn't help that he had stopped physically ageing at 21 thanks to the Deathly Hallows claiming him as their master. He received constant questions about it, and was even brought before the Wizengamot to face an inquiry about it which he barely talked his way out of without giving details on the Deathly Hallows.

After 30 years of living in the magical world, Harry had decided to call it quits and devised a way to escape to the muggle world with his magic intact. He found a fellow magical who had decided to end his own life by leaving through the barrier due to the loss of his wife to the ritual, and had him agree to carry Harry out as well. The twist was that he would cast an avada kedavra at Harry beforehand. Harry had discovered in a failed suicide attempt, that the killing curse would only put him in a state of suspended animation for 30 minutes or so, instead of sending him on the next great journey. He theorized that it was due to him building an immunity to it after surviving it twice already, but had no one to collaborate his theory with.

Harry proceeded to empty his vaults into a few bottomless trunks he had purchased, as well as every book, potion ingredient, and a few brooms he purchased from Diagon Alley. Anything he needed immediately, he stored in his moleskin pouch tied around his neck. The rest of the things he'd need long term were stored in the shrunken trunks in his pocket. After that he went to meet his fellow wizard at an out of the way place near the barrier line.

One flash of green later, Harry opened his eyes to find a grey alleyway in the middle of London with the dead body of the wizard next to him that had helped him escape. Harry said a quick thank you to the man, then proceeded to transfigure his body to a bone and vanish it. Overjoyed that his magically was still functioning normally, Harry began to realize that he had the whole world opened up for him to explore and he began to make plans for leaving England.

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Harry blinked his eyes a few times as he came out of his thoughts and realized he had already finished his meal. Learning oclumency had helped him overcome his nightmares from the war, as well as letting his memory in leaps and bounds for retention. Unfortunately he found that when he was recollecting, it took much longer to come out of it since old experiences were so much more vivid. This wasn't a hindrance for him though since he had all the time in the world being the only one awake on the entire ship.

Harry pushed himself up from his bench with a huff and began his walk back to his room. It was hidden under a hastily cast fidelius at the end of a random maintenance hallway he had discovered. He had barely finished casting it while hidden under his invisibility cloak before a crewman who was on his way to verify the rooms manifest forgot where he was heading to, and turned around to go get the rest of his duties accomplished before the ship cast off. Harry had initially vanished the cargo in the room, then unshrunk a bed, dresser, and set out his shrunken trunks. Taking a look around the barebones room though, he realized something was missing. Harry reached into one of his trunks and pulled out a rolled up piece of poster paper. One sticking charm later, he had a picture in the center of the wall opposite the door showing a cat holding onto a tree branch with the words "Hang in there!" looking back at him. Now he felt like the room was truly his new home.

He was beginning to regret his plan on how to pass the journey between galaxies. Harry had seen the flight plan and timeline for the journey beforehand and had decided that he would use dreamless sleep potions to put him to sleep for 24 years at a time. After the potion would wear off, he would check the ship's progress at a terminal, pass some time exploring and studying, then go back to sleep with another potion. Unfortunately there was a 1 year time period before Harry's body could use his next potion unless Harry wanted to risk never coming out of the dreamless sleep. This hadn't seemed like a big deal to Harry before his trip had begun. 300 years into the trip, and 12 years alone in the dark though had him wishing he could time travel back to when he first thought up this plan and kick his own ass.

Harry would be the first to admit that his brain always was sluggish for the first day or two after awakening from a 24 year dreamless slumber. It made him feel worse than when he had decided to chase tequila with ryncol supplied by a Krogan he met at a bar. As he wandered slowly down the hallway back towards his hidden room though, Harry couldn't help but feel a sensation of being watched again. A quick about face and casting of homenum revelio showed that once again, he was the only living thing around not residing in a hibernation pod. Turning around, Harry continued on to his destination not noticing a camera with an orange glow in the corner of the hallway focus in on him for a moment before powering down as he turned a corner.

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SAM activated the next camera on the anomaly's well documented route back to where the AI could only theorize was his base of operations. SAM had first seen this individual 25 years into the journey when he had tripped one of the motion sensors set up in the ship's hallways. The crew was well into their hibernation and had left orders to only revive someone in absolute emergency. Every life on the ship was deemed too important for colonizing Habitat 7 upon humanity's arrival and wasn't to have years of their lifespan wasted frivolously on the 600 year journey, being woken up for minor problems that an AI could handle. Following this protocol, SAM had decided to observe the anomaly as he drunkenly wandered down the hallways and verify if he was an active threat before reviving the captain and a few security personnel.

The artificial intelligence captured the anomaly's image and ran it through the personnel database of the initiative project. It was only able to find a single mention of the individual, an image of him in the background of the unveiling of Ark Hyperion by the Initiative's director to the members. SAM continued to process the anomaly's captured image through the Alliance's personnel databases that it had copied at the behest of the director, letting their crew have the ability to examine their ancestors' history later on. It finally found reference to the anomaly starting back in the school records of the 1990's as one Harry Potter. Mr. Potter had apparently disappeared for a few decades from any government record, before popping up in England over 40 years later as a young adult purchasing a plane ticket to Hollywood. For the next 150 years Mr. Potter would pop up in various places under the world, using various aliases.

SAM had almost immediately reclassified Mr. Potter as "The Anomaly" again when it sensed the strange energy used by Mr. Potter to generate an unknown light source after running into his third wall in the darkened hallway. SAM had registered a burst of this energy for less than a second, days before the journey had begun. It had logged the recording for its report to both the Pathfinder and the ship's captain. It was deemed as unimportant compared to keeping on schedule for the departure though and was thus archived and promptly forgotten about. Now SAM was able to recall these readings from its database and comparing that energy signature matched to what observed Mr. Potter output. (fix)

The AI observed the subject's route as he meandered through the ship, stopping occasionally to read whatever was displayed on his omnitool, before changing directions again until he would reach a dead end. SAM had spent most of this time using all sensors at its disposal to try to categorize the energy that Mr. Potter was outputting as his light source, when it recorded an even more amazing occurrence. The anomaly had approached a locked door, paused for a moment, and then waved a stick while chanting what appeared to be "alohomora". SAM registered another burst of the strange energy briefly before the door slid open for Mr. Potter, who continued on with his journey. The door's electronics were shielded, but SAM still registered what could almost be a miniature EMP hit on the local area's circuits. At this point, SAM's estimation of Mr. Potter's threat level was elevated to a much higher threat if security measures were unable to keep him out of restricted areas. To its relief though, Mr. Potter had concluded his journey at the cafeteria, before getting himself some food and returning on his route to the location that the AI had first detected him. At this point, SAM recalled the ship's schematic to try and infer Mr. Potter's destination, only to discover a blank spot on the ship's design. It brought up multiple backups of the ship's design only to discover that is was if that end of the hallway and what laid beyond it never existed. As Mr. Potter disappeared off of his sensors, SAM's processor went into overdrive trying to process everything it had just recorded. Mr. Potter still hadn't crossed the threat level threshold to justify unthawing leadership, but it was a close thing. SAM decided that it needed to gather more information before reaching a conclusion.

As the days continued on SAM recorded Mr. Potter's multi-daily trips to the cafeteria and back to his presumed base of operations. Sometimes he would spend extra time in the vast cafeteria reading on his omnitool, or even exercising, but he would always return to his base afterwards without much deviation in route after the first few days. Months into the established routine, SAM observed Mr. Potter begin to start using his energy more frequently in the cafeteria, waving his stick while occasionally mumbling specific words. SAM started logging the different effects he would observe that resulted from the energy, though two specific effects interested him the most. Mr. Potter would shrink and enlarge various furniture, cut off pieces of a table, and on one occasion, cause a chair to explode. After this was done though, he would cast a more prolonged burst of energy that would result in the ruined objects being returned to their previous state without any signs of damage. Once again SAM registered that the local shielded electronics would take a minor hit though. The other result that interested SAM was when Mr. Potter turned himself invisible to his visual sensors. SAM wasn't able to find him until he scanned for the specific unknown energy and discovered a small output of it in a localized area. He continued to watch this area until Mr. Potter reappeared in the location and the unknown energy faded away.

SAM recorded 365 days of these events before suddenly, Mr. Potter had stopped his routine. After days of no sightings, SAM had increased his active monitoring and scans to encompass the whole ship instead of just Harry's usual route, but still was unable to find him. At this point SAM had to admit that Mr. Potter was most likely either gone from the ship, or possibly had something bad happen to him in the undetectable area and was unable to do anything. SAM cataloged all of his research for the crews review upon arrival, and set himself back into standby mode again for the remainder of the trip.

SAM was surprised to find himself awakened again almost 24 years later from standby by the same motion sensor as the previous time. It turned on the cameras in the motion sensor's hallway in time to see Harry staring out of viewport for a few minutes, before he left a shallow cut on the wall, and proceeded to stumble down the hall on his familiar path to the cafeteria. SAM dutifully began its observation and recording duties again on Mr. Potter while trying to figure out how he didn't seem to age biologically from the last time he was seen 24 years ago. The AI knew that all cryopods on the ship were still occupied and was unable to infer how the anomaly had avoided aging. It began to sense a pattern when Mr. Potter disappeared 365 days later again and set a wakeup for himself for 24 years from then to see if it could catch Mr. Potter as he came back. SAM had recorded this routine 10 more times at the 24 year mark of the now over 300 year journey and had no reason to expect any deviation as it started up the necessary instruments for its yearlong observation of the anomaly known as Harry Potter.

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Harry of course knew none of this was happening around him. He had just crossed over the edge of the fidelius at the end of the hallway, and entered his home. He lit a few candles and extinguished his lumos, while trying to plan out how he wanted this year to go. His previous times awake had been spent productively in his opinion and he wanted to keep the trend alive. Harry's priority was to prepare for his new life in Andromeda since he had joined the journey at almost a spur of the moment after listening to the director's presentation where he was working as a caterer. His hand eye coordination meant that he was a decent shot at the weapons he would practice with at the civilian shooting ranges back on earth. He was decently read up on history of the initiative from an omnitool he had "found" from a crewman's locker before the trip had begun. He had practiced the small spells that he could in the cafeteria to the point that he could cast them silently. He was even able to cast some of the easier spells wandlessly, though with a higher magical drain. At this point, his reparo spell had seen so much practice, that he could cast it with minimal concentration beyond the initial intent and hardly spent any magic for most easy fixes. He had maintained his fitness to the best of his ability with runs around the cafeteria and conjured weights in his room.

The only glaring hole in Harry's view for dealing with the unknown future was his lack of any tech knowledge at all. He could boot up his omnitool and navigate it, as well as use various terminals using common sense, but was effectively a Luddite in dealing with anything more advanced. Harry knew he had been waiting on researching this subject due to his frustrating past experiences with it, but realized that he had no further excuses to put off. "Well this year is going to suck bollocks" he muttered to himself as he settled back on his bed and opened a downloaded book called "Hacking for Vorchas" on his omnitool.

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This was it. Harry sat on his bed in his hidden room and contemplated taking his final dose of dreamless sleep potion. He had consulted a console on the path the cafeteria that day and it had displayed a self-updating map of the Hyperion's journey and its location relative to the final destination in Andromeda. He had less than 34 years before the arrival and he needed to be smart about his plans. Hiding on a deserted ship as the only one awake was one thing, but hiding with the crew up and about was an entirely different challenge. He had gone through everywhere on the ship he had previously visited, making sure to wipe away all traces of his existence. He had heavily cast reparos all over the cafeteria to ensure any leftover damages from his training had been removed. He had even gone and cast a glamor over his "I was here" record he left by his favorite viewing port.

Now Harry carefully emptied out a small portion of the potion, measuring the remaining amount to ensure he woke up as close to the day of arrival to Habitat 7 as possible to give him the best chance of slipping away to the surface in the ensuing rush to colonize. He couldn't help but fantasize about what he might encounter in the new galaxy, and who he would meet. Everything he was waiting centuries for was finally about to happen. With a hope and a smile, Harry shot gunned the potion, laid back, and closed his eyes.

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SAM prepared to go into standby for the final time before its preprogrammed routines kicked in upon arrival to Andromeda. It was set to come online a week ahead of arrival and begin to power up the ship's systems and prepare the logs for the crew's awakening. SAM archived the last footage it had of Mr. Potter and reviewed it to make sure he still remained the non-threat it had designated him as over the centuries.

Mr. Potter had been busy the last few days. SAM logged over 300 separate uses of the energy to repair various damages incurred in the spaces he had occupied over the centuries. There even was a continuous low level energy field that was placed over the wall SAM had observed Mr. Potter mark multiple times over the trip. SAM was able to detect the energy with his sensors, but couldn't detect anything abnormal with the cameras in the room. He made sure to mark it as somewhere for investigation when the crew awoke. On the final day of Mr. Potter's awakening cycle, SAM had observed him looking at the console displaying the ship's journey and making some entries into his omnitool. SAM inferred that Mr. Potter was calculating on when to wake up and decided it would adjust the display's date to show a day off of the actual arrival. The AI theorized that Mr. Potter would want to be awake for the actual arrival and decided to influence his sleep cycle to allow for it. This would also let it direct the already awakened crew to Mr. Potter when appeared again, allowing them to address the potential problem early before actual arrival. SAM watched Mr. Potter return to its sensor "dead zone" for the final time before returning to standby mode itself.

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Harry's first day the new galaxy was nothing like he had hoped for, yet everything he had expected given how his luck always turned out. He awoke to what felt like an earthquake as the ship shook around him so hard that he tumbled out of his bed, still tangled up in his sheets. He saw a previously unnoticed red light flashing in the corner of his ceiling and could hear a steady alarm echoing through the ship. As his potion addled mind tried to piece together what was happening, he felt what he now registered as another explosion shake the ship. Harry threw on his crew outfit that he had set aside for himself, and hurried out into the corridor attached to his room.

Smoke was rolling along the ceiling, too thick for the life support system to fully handle. Harry could see multiple panels in the walls with sparks shooting out of them, and to make matters worse, Harry could see a fire starting to build in intensity out of a grate in the floor. If there was one thing Harry had always prided himself in, it was ability to think and act quickly and rationally in a stressful environment. Or to quote Mad Eye Moody, "Potter never lost his shit in a fight, unlike the rest of those tossers in the Ministry!" Harry grabbed his wand from his pocket and set to work. He started out with casting a flame freezing charm on the fire to snuff it out, followed with some quick reparos on the pipe that had ruptured, along with walls. To finish it off, he vanished the smoke still in the air, returning the hallway to a pristine state. As he jogged down the hallway, wand in hand, he couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the rest of the crew that were supposed to have woken up by now.

The door at the end of the hallway refused to open for Harry, even after swiping his omnitool across it multiple times. He noticed that some kind of message had been broadcast to his omnitool, but he shrank it with the intention to read it later. Turning back to the door, Harry placed his hand on it and cast an alohomora and watched it take effect. Less than a second later, he was sucked forward with incredible force as the air from his hallway was pulled through the opening door with the force of a hurricane. Harry had to cast a quick sticking charm on his feet to stop from being pulled in while he waited for the wind's intensity to die down. Once he could move safely again, Harry inched his head through the door to try and figure out what the hell had just happened. To his surprise and utter horror, he found a chunk of the wall ripped away in the next hall with nothing between him and space but a damaged, flickering force field. "I guess there was a reason I couldn't open it after all" he thought to himself as he decided it would be a good idea to take the ship's warning seriously from now on. Harry was seriously beginning to regret not purchasing a hardsuit before he stowed away on the ship. He had figured he wouldn't be in space that long and wouldn't really have any need for it.

Harry would be the first to admit that he didn't have the expertise to fix something as complicated as a ship's bulkhead. What he did have though, was a deep magical reserve and a wand made from elderwood that he had won from Voldemort. So he pointed his wand at where the hole began closest to him, and cast reparo. The hole began to slowly close as the ship seemed to generate the bulkhead it had lost. The forcefield had began to flicker even more violently though, prompting Harry to cast another reparo, with way more power behind it. Harry watched the ship finish healing itself of the breach at an accelerated rate.

After the rupture was fixed, the door at the other end of the hallway opened and a crewmember stuck her head in. She was blonde and in her mid 30's, with a nametag that read "Jennings" from Harry could see down the hallway. "Hey!" she shouted as her eyes fell on Harry. "We were told the hall was exposed to space. Are you ok?" Harry could only nod as he stared at the first human in what rightly felt like an eternity. She sighed to herself after not getting a verbal response from the crewman. "Looks like the sensors were malfunctioning from all the damage we took. We're all instructed to report to our damage stations to begin a damage assessment and repairs. If you need any help, just ask SAM." As she ran off down the hallway, she looked back over her shoulder at Harry one last time. Jennings held eye contact with him for a few seconds to determine if he truly was ok, then turned around and sped off until she was out of site.

It was a full minute before Harry was able to respond and by that time, the beautiful creature he had just ran into was already gone. He had seriously underestimated just how starved he was for human contact. At this point, Harry realized how stupid he was acting and how incredibly lucky he had been. Jennings was too concerned about his safety to even bother identifying him, but he couldn't depend on that to stay in effect as people calmed down. Harry debated on pulling out his invisibility cloak, but didn't want to risk losing it in another hull breach. He decided on casting a disillusionment charm on himself, and began to proceed down the hallway to find something that could tell him what had happened.

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Alec Ryder could feel his eye twitching. He hated it when his eye twitched. It meant he was letting his stress get to him, and that was the very opposite image that The Pathfinder needed to portray. He was supposed to be the rock that the rest of humanity could fall back on in the sea of unknowns that this new galaxy represented. Alec was standing on the bridge of the Hyperion with Captain Dunn, trying to figure out what had caused such massive damage to their ship just hours into arriving in the galaxy. He had been ignoring SAM repeated attempts to talk to him for the last few minutes while he tried to gather his thoughts. He had just been notified that his daughter Sara was trapped in a coma due to a botched wake up process from hibernation caused by the crash. His son Scott Ryder and Lieutenant Cora Harper stood behind him as they all looked at what was supposed to be humanity's fresh start, Habitat 7. The planet was engulfed in lightning storms, showing nothing of the beautiful lush landscapes they had captured before starting this journey. Too make matters worse, Scott had just sided with the Captain Dunn over his father on what he felt humanity's priority should be. Alec felt he needed to explore the planet and find out what had happened, while the Captain and Scott felt repairing the ship and finding the Nexus took priority. At least he knew that he could always depend on Cora to have his back no matter what the decision was. Loyalty like that wasn't something that could be bought, you had to earn it.

He had just finished using the authority granted to him as pathfinder to sway the decision to his choice. As he began to give instructions to suit up and meet in the hangar bay, SAM sent him a spike of pain in his head. Cora had already anticipated his instructions and had left to coordinate the exploration team. Scott noticed that his father was in pain though and walked over to him to see if he could help.

"Now that I have your attention" said SAM, broadcasting to the Captain and Scott as well, "I have to notify you of a potential threat to the Hyperion"

"SAM" Alec started, "this is going to have to wait. We're on a time crunch…"

"With all due respect Pathfinder" SAM interrupted, "I don't believe this can wait. I'm send you all a video file of something that happened in the last few minutes in the lower decks."

All three individuals looked at their screens with varying levels of astonishment as they witnessed a black haired young crewmember seal a decent sized hullbreach with a swish and flick of a stick he was holding. There wasn't any sound available so no one knew what he said during the process, or what the crew member talked to him about afterwards. They did see him become invisible though right before the video ended.

Captain Dunn was the first to come out of shock. "SAM" she asked, "can you track this individual?"

"His name is most likely Harry Potter from what I've been able to research from our collected records." the AI informed her. "I am unable to get an exact fix on Mr. Potter when he is under his invisibility field, but I can track what room he is bleeding off the energy in that he uses to maintain the field. I believe that Alec and Scott can use the scanners in their omnitools to break through the field and find him."

Captain Dunn turned to Alec. "I can't leave the bridge right now. I'm needed here to direct the damage control. I need you to apprehend Harry so we can figure out who, or what he is, and why he is here."

Alec nodded at this. "Scott, contact Cora and tell her to meet us in Cryo. That's the closest point the tram can drop us to before we go on foot." "We'll catch him before we go planet side" he said to the Captain as he walked off. He missed the friendly eye roll and smile Scott passed to the Captain before he turned to follow his father while bringing up Cora on his omnitool.

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Harry cursed his luck as he wandered down another random hallway. He had followed the crewmembers to a briefing while invisible, but had only arrived to hear the last bit of it, with no mention of how the damage happened. After the crew had left, he realized that he was in a part of the ship that he had never seen before. He hadn't bothered to turn on the mapping function of his omnitool since he had woken up and had realized he was effectively lost on a 1.5 kilometer long ship. Harry's only option at this point was to randomly wander the halls while dodging people until he found somewhere that looked familiar. This was slow going though as he stopped to fix whatever he found broken, and helping heal injured crew members when he could get away without being seen. He never noticed the cameras with the glowing orange light following his journey.

Harry had just finished up fixing a hole in the deck when the far doors slid open allowing in 3 crew. These particular individuals set off alarms in Harry's mind though as they seemed to be looking for something, and were armed with a small arsenal each. Harry decided that discretion was the better part of valor in this case and tucked himself into an alcove in the wall between some pipes to avoid getting in the groups path as he watched their slow approach. Both men had what appeared to be some kind of orange scanner active on the omnitool of their left hand, while the older one had a pistol in his right hand and the younger's glowed blue with biotic energy. The serious looking young lady behind them glowed blue with her biotics on display while toting a huge shotgun. They had just passed Harry and he had decided to sneak away when the younger one heard a noise and turned around, inadvertently sweeping Harry with his scanner. Harry found himself glowing orange for a moment before his spell broke. He stayed still hoping that they wouldn't notice him, then proceeded to start swearing colorfully as first the woman, then the other man turned to look at him too.

Harry slowly raised his arms in the air in surrender, causing the woman to point her shotgun at his chest. No one made any sound as they all processed what had happened and tried to figure out where to go from there. It was at this point that Harry finally recalled how to communicate verbally with his fellow man. He looked directly at Alec Rider and said something that he could immediately cross off his dialogue bucket list afterwards. "Take me to your leader." Alec felt his eye twitch again.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: I'm Not Just Another Pretty Face

Harry hadn't expected for his request to garner as many different reactions as it did. The older crewman looked like he was a step away from punching the nearest wall. The female crewman just stared at him as she unconsciously, slowly lowered her shotgun from pointing at his chest, towards a lower, more intimate part of him. Harry internally winced and shifted a foot to his left, only for the gun to continue tracking his spare wand to his dismay. It was the younger male crewman that impressed Harry with his adaptability to the strange situation he was presented. "Well you're in luck" said Scott with barely held back laughter. He gestured towards his father. "This is the Pathfinder Alec Ryder who just so happens to be one of our leaders. This is Cora Harper, and my name is Scott Ryder" he said while gesturing to the female crewmate and himself.

"Pleasure to meet you" Harry said with a strained smile of his own. "My name is Harry Potter. Might I make a request for Ms. Harper to point her gun back at my chest? I'd feel a little less intimidated if she could be so kind." Both Ryders turned their heads to Cora at this point, catching her blush as she corrected her aim back towards center mass.

"Sorry, sir" she apologized to Alec. "It was almost like I reacted without thinking."

"It's no problem Lieutenant" Alec assured her before turning to Mr. Potter. "Unfortunately Mr. Potter, I don't have much time to deal with you at the moment. We're due for planet fall shortly. You'll have to stay locked up in the brig until we are able to return and question you on your purpose for being here."

Harry shrugged while slowly lowering his arms to his side. "I'm just a simple stow-away Mr. Pathfinder. I heard Ms. Garson describing the Initiative project to her investors at an event I worked at, and monitored the progress to slip on the ship before the mission began. At this point I don't think you'll be turning around to drop me off at home, so I'm sure we can come to an understanding." Harry couldn't help the small upturn of his lips as he finished his speech. He had gone over what he was going to say when confronted on his origins in his head multiple times during the trip and felt confident with his explanation. The best way to push a lie was to tell as much truth as possible while omitting things that needed to stay hidden.

Scott could see his father rapidly losing his temper and cut Harry off at this point trying to save the situation from deteriorating any further. "I can take Harry to the brig with Cora since we're already suited up" he addressed his father. "We can meet you at the shuttle bay afterwards while you get the rest of the team prepped."

Alec considered his options before nodding in acceptance. He patted Scott on the shoulder in thanks while he walked off, opening a comm link to the Captain to update her as he went. Scott turned and gestured for Harry to accompany him. "If you'll follow me Mr. Potter, we'll take you to your new residence for the foreseeable future." He looked over his shoulder at Harry while they continued walking. "You know" he said while making eye contact with Harry, "you really should try to figure out how much a person knows before you lie to them. We saw what you did with that hull breach, and my father didn't appreciate what you just tried to sell him on."

Harry looked away quickly, trying to find some kind of excuse. They were approaching the brig and he just had to keep the conversation off of this dangerous subject long enough for them to confine him and leave. "I'm not sure exactly what you think you know," he said while looking at Scott, "but from what I hear, the sensors in that hallway seemed to be malfunctioning. You didn't actually see anything" he said with his voice lowered as he stared hard at Scott. He stepped into his cell as the barrier began to cascade down to close him in. He maintained eye contact with Ryder until the barrier finished closing.

Scott blinked at him a few times, before his face started turning red as he held his breath. There was a burst of noise behind him as Cora couldn't hold in her laughter anymore and leaned against the wall, holding her sides. Scott lost his battle with maintaining composure a moment later and started laughing his ass off at the wizard as well. "You're joking right?" he wheezed between pants. "You seriously get an A+ for dramatic effect at the least. You do get that there are security cameras all over the ship. Our A.I. has been recording you and storing everything for us. We have visual evidence of what you did. ALL of it" he emphasized as he finally calmed down.

Harry just looked at him with a confused expression until he pointed at the corner of the brig to a small lens sticking out of the wall with an orange glow around it. Scott watched Harry's face cycle through a few different emotions before it settled on embarrassment.

"You have got to be shitting me" Harry mumbled with a defeated expression on his face. "Of all the damn things I didn't think prep for it was a bloody CCTV setup with an A.I. voyeur"

Scott smirked at him, nodding his head. He felt Cora tap him on the shoulder and directed his her eyes towards his omnitool. He acknowledged her before turning back to Harry. "We have to get ready. We're going to go explore what might be all of our new home. We'll have this conversation again when we get back and I hope you'll be ready to actually answer our questions this time."

Harry could only nod at Ryder as he tried to gather his thoughts after being confronted with such a colossal fuck up on his part. "Good luck" he offered. "I hope that you'll forget about this when you come back and we can start over fresh." Ryder gave him a wave as he left, followed by Cora who offer up a shyer smile to Harry as she crossed the threshold and the door closed behind her.

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Despite Harry's well wishes, Scott Ryder was not having a very good day. His ship had blown apart during re-entry due to a stray lightning bolt, and after an incredibly rough landing he found himself wandering between the cliffs in search of the rest of his ship and crewmates. His only companion thus far was another member of the pathfinder team called Liam Costa. Liam was a perpetually optimistic guy who always tried to see the best in a situation, and then set out to achieve it. Right now, Scott and Liam were traveling towards a set of flares they had seen in the distance. It was their best bet with linking back up with his father and Cora.

They had already met the local aliens. Alec had stayed true to the pathfinder values and tried to initiate peaceful contact with the armed and aggressive aliens, only to find himself fired at for his troubles. He had put down the aliens and scanned them and their weapons for any useful information in the future while they examined the crash site of part of their ship. They had acted quickly enough to save the co-pilot who was being accosted by the Kett before they had arrived, but his leg was broken and he wasn't able to accompany them.

They took a quick break on a narrow trail on the side of a cliff, looking off into the distance. A group of creatures flew by looking somewhat similar to a stingray, though they were the size of a whale at least. Liam whistled to himself at the beautiful site, even as the planet went to hell around them as the lightning storm continued to tear into it. "I think this is probably the strangest thing I've seen since coming here" he remarked to Scott while gesturing to the site.

Scott could understand where Liam was coming from but just found himself underwhelmed after what he had already seen with the recordings that SAM had taken of Harry. He turned to Liam, and couldn't help but joke, "If you think that's impressive, just wait until you see who I have stowed back on the ship."

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Harry sat back on the bench supplied in the cell, staring at the ceiling and wondering what the hell he should do now. His wand in its wrist holster and his moleskin pouch still had their muggle repelling charms on them and hadn't been removed. He could leave anytime he wanted, but didn't want to cause any more trouble for himself at this point. He knew he would have to work with these people eventually if he wanted any kind of human contact in this new galaxy. His years alone in the dark while the ship was in hibernation mode had made him appreciate the simple presence of other humans, and he wasn't about to give that up again finally experiencing it again.

"Besides" he thought to himself, "That camera is still pointing at me anyways. Not like I'm about to give that damn A.I. any more free shows then it already has seen." He tilted his head to look directly the camera, and appeased himself realizing that it would have been damn near impossible to see them in the darkened hallways he had spent years navigating. "You know," he said out loud, "you could have at least told me you were there all those years. I would have killed for a conversation." Harry hadn't expected an answer, and jumped out of his seat when what he presumed was the A.I.'s digitized voice floated out of speaker on the wall above his head.

"I am known as S.A.M. Mr. Potter. It's the short name for my design description, Simulated Adaptive Matrix. I apologize, but you had illegally boarded the Ark and stowed away for the journey" SAM said. "You didn't seem like an active treat so I allowed you to continue on while monitoring your activities. There was no way I wouldn't inform my leadership upon arrival though. I am curious as to what the strange energy is that you are using to get such different effects though. I have never seen anything like it even with Element Zero usage."

Harry shrugged as he sat back down on the bench and looked at the camera. "No hard feelings Sam, you just would have been an interesting way to pass the time. I can see where you had problems connecting my powers to biotics though, since some of the results are the same. Mine are a little more advanced though." He looked around the empty cell realizing there wasn't even ceiling tiles to count as it was all one large metal plate. "How do prisoners pass the time in here anyways?" he asked.

SAM was less than helpful though with his response. "You are the first person ever placed in the brig Mr. Potter, so I don't have any previous examples to reference. In all honesty, you might be the first human in this galaxy to be incarcerated. Congratulations on becoming a footnote in history. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to dedicate my processing time between helping with ship repairs, and assisting the ground team. I have left a subroutine here in case you are in need of assistance."

Harry stood up again and began to pace the cell. He didn't enjoy being confined in small spaces ever since he was locked in a cupboard under the stairs in his first home while growing up. He reached out and brushed his fingers along the barrier, only to draw back as a significant shock entered his hand. He noticed the camera glow orange for a moment before it dimmed again. If there was one thing Harry knew all computers could do it was play chess. The PC's and tablets he had owned back on earth all contained chess on them. He had come to appreciate the game more after he wasn't massacred by Ron in it. Harry laid back on his bunk, closing his eyes and picturing the wizarding chess board in his head with all of its violence and splendor. "Sam" Harry called out, "Pawn to E4."

"Mr. Potter" SAM replied with what faintly sounded like exasperation, "I am in the middle of handling a ship wide emergency with the potential of loss of life. I am also helping the Pathfinder and his team who are in active combat on the planet. Now is not the time for a game. Need I remind you that you are also a prisoner and should not be rewarded for being incarcerated?"

Harry raised an eyebrow while he considered an appropriate response to the A.I. "You know Sam, that sounds an awful lot like an excuse from where I'm sitting. Does part of being an A.I. mean that you have an actual fear of losing?"

Harry counted the seconds of silence as he waited to hear Sam's answer. After the minute mark had rolled by he finally gave up figuring that the A.I. had cut communications with him.

Out of nowhere a quiet digitized voice appeared, managing to sound sullen. "Knight to F6."

Harry laid back and grinned to himself as he began to do battle with the overworked Artificial Intelligence.

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On Habitat 7, Alec Ryder crouched on a ledge as he observed the Ketts' patrols around their main base. The aliens had murdered his personnel without even trying to communicate with them after his team had crash landed on the planet. His son had a similar experience, but was able to meet up with another of his team called Liam and had saved two members of their ship before meeting back up with Alec and his team. Scott, Cora, and Liam kneeled behind him as they maintained a lookout while he programmed a solution to their problem into his omnitool with Sam's assistance. "Ok you two" he said after going over his plan with them, "does anyone have anything to contribute?"

"A moment please Pathfinder" SAM requested. "I am dedicating more processing power to you for this mission."

"Thank you Sam" said Alec with a hint of confusion. "Is the damage to the ship that bad that you need to use a lion's share of your processing speed for it?"

"No Pathfinder" SAM replied. "I was challenged to a chess game by Mr. Potter. He was surprisingly good and I needed to actually use a small portion of my resources to humble him. I'm dedicating those resources to your mission now."

"Thanks Sam" Scott cut into the conversation. "But why the hell would you play a game with him though while he's locked up? That doesn't sound like something you'd normally agree to do" he asked with genuine curiosity.

"He called me out" SAM admitted. "I also felt it would be easier to keep him contained in one place if he was distracted."

Scott couldn't help but grin to Liam at this. Potter was making life interesting. "Kick his ass in a game for me too Sam" he requested. He received a green checkmark on his heads up display in response.

Alec chose to ignore the conversation in an effort to improve his sanity. Nothing had gone right since he had come out of hibernation and he couldn't allow anything else to distract him at the moment. "OK" he said, getting everyone's attention back on track. "We execute in 3 seconds. Enjoy the fireworks." He punched the activation key on his omnitool, setting off previously placed explosions on various lightning rods around the Kett perimeter. As the rods went up in smoke, a massive charge of ions could be seen gathering above the Ketts' position. With a blinding flash, the gathered lightning hit the generators powering the force field protecting the base, utterly destroying them. Scott's eyes finally adjusted to the flash, only to notice both his father and Cora had already taken off down the hill towards the base. He jumped to his feet and took off after his father. He waved a hand forward at Liam, and took off running as fast as he could to catch up.

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Captain Dunn stood on the bridge of her ship, almost feeling its pain as her personnel frantically tried to repair it. The dark matter storm called the Scourge that they had run into had done a number on her hull, and played havoc with her electrical systems. She only had so many workers though, and the problem with triage on a hibernation ship was that just about everything was critical. They needed to get the ship space worthy, but couldn't ignore the 20,000 sleeping colonists they were responsible for either. She dedicated her workers to the electrical malfunctions, knowing that she would just have to leave parts of the ship open to space until later on. Communications couldn't reach the Nexus or any of the other Arks that should have already arrived, so there would be no help coming.

SAM observed his captain getting frustrated while he continued to direct the repair efforts. He knew that the Pathfinder wouldn't like the suggestion that he was about to put forward, but he didn't see much choice in the matter if they wanted to be space worthy any time soon. "Captain" he said as he opened up a comm link to her omnitool, "I may have an alternate way of getting the ship repaired at a much quicker rate. We could be ready to be underway before the Pathfinder and his team return."

Captain Dunn was relieved at first to hear good news from SAM. Then her brain started to process just how he had worded his suggestion to her, and logically led to the next part of his plan. "Sam," she sighed, "you know we can't let him out of the brig. He could be a danger to the crew. We don't know why he stowed away, or even what his intentions are. We could just be giving him an opportunity to escape or take over the ship."

SAM could understand the Captain's point of view, but felt the need to argue for the merits of his suggestion. "I understand your concerns Captain, but we need to examine the facts. The ship is damaged too much to consider the drive and we need to distance ourselves from the Scourge as soon as possible. Mr. Potter is just as new to the galaxy as we are, and has nowhere to run to. He is as nervous about firearms pointed at him as the next man from what I observed, so we can have an armed guard accompany him."

The Captain considered SAM's argument, before admitting to herself that it was their best option. "Alright SAM, I'll send 2 guards to his cell to let him out. Connect to his omnitool and direct him to what you need repairs on. But he goes back in his cell afterwards until we can determine his intentions." She was only willing to compromise so far with the safety of her crew and passengers at risk.

"Very well Captain," SAM complied. "I've observed that Mr. Potter's energy has an adverse reaction to our power systems, so I'll leverage him to close our hull breaches instead. We already have proof of his capabilities in that regard."

Captain Dunn agreed as she turned back to her view screen. She hoped she was making the right choice. The last thing she needed was to have to hear another "I told you so" lecture from the Pathfinder again.

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Harry would kill for some real bacon right about now. He grew hungry when he was bored, and as he sat in the prison cell, his mind naturally wandered to his favorite meals. He had run out of his bacon supply half way through the trip, and now felt a tear coming to his eye as he realized he might not get to experience it again.

Harry's omnitool lit up as he finished having his emotional breakdown. He noticed two guards enter the room and cross over to his cell as SAM's voice came filtered in. "Mr. Potter, we need your help with the ship repairs. If we can't get fixed, then we're stuck next to the dark matter storm called the Scourge that we already ran into. Another collision might not be survivable. Will you help us?" SAM questioned.

"I'm willing to help" Harry acknowledged. "I'd rather survive this just as much as anyone else." He turned towards the guards who had lowered the barrier. "Do you know what they're asking me to do? I'm checking because I'm not interested in getting shot in the back if you see something that you don't understand."

One of the guards stepped forward to address Harry. "SAM showed us a video of what you're capable of on the way down. I can't say I'm comfortable with this, but if you can fix the breaches, then you have my support. We brought you down a spare hardsuit" he gestured to what the other guard was holding up, "this will let you be exposed to vacuum without dying. Be warned, it doesn't have shields though, in case you get the bright idea to run away."

Harry had the suit on in record time and was led by the guards to the room containing the first breach. "The first breach is through this door Mr. Potter" said SAM as a door behind Harry and the guards closed. ""I'm currently venting the atmosphere from the hallway so you won't be explosively decompressed like last time."

"Thanks" Harry mumbled to himself as the guards shared a laugh behind him. "I'm guess you caught that part on video didn't you SAM?" He got no confirmation, but noticed the guards shaking silently while watching something on their omnitools while he prepared to get to work. "This is because of the chess challenge isn't it SAM?" he mumbled as he proceeded through the now open door. The lab he had stepped into almost looked normal except for the small tear in the wall.

"I'm sorry Mr. Potter, but Scott has informed me that if I don't fight back then you'll walk all over me."

SAM didn't sound all that sorry in Harry's opinion, but he sucked it up and proceeded over to the tear in the wall. It looked like a smaller version of what he had already dealt with so Harry silently cast a regular powered _reparo_ to see if he could get an idea on what power was needed for the other breaches. The wall started to close up at a normal speed, though Harry noticed that a portion of it was lagging behind as if inhibited by something. Casting a diagnostic on the tear, he found traces of an unknown energy left on the edges of the breach that were stopping his magic from taking effect. "Sam" he asked," have you ever seen this type of energy before as he indicated the tear.

SAM had been busy analyzing the energy as well while Harry worked. "No Mr. Potter, though I'd like you to save a sample of it in one of the lab's specimen containers so I can have the pathfinder, or his team, examine it with their deep scanners."

Harry grabbed one of the empty containers and placed it at the bottom of the tear. He then proceeded to use a cutting curse to take off part of the tear with the residue. As he sealed the container and handed it to the guard, he noticed that the portion of the wall he had cut was repairing as fast as the rest of the tear now. Harry could add 1+1 together as quick as the next bloke and proceeded to cut the contaminated edges of the wall away and vanish them. After casting a second _reparo,_ the breach was closed in minutes.

"Please standby" SAM requested. "I am examining the fix action to see if the task is accomplished." 5 minutes went by with Harry and the guards standing around and staring awkwardly at each other. Finally SAM reported that the fix was adequate and they were off to the next hole in the wall.

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"You think everything is still going ok back on the ship?" Liam asked Scott as they hid behind a small container while reloading their rifles. The Pathfinder had begun the sequence to open the doors to the Kett base's core. Liam and Cora had split off to defend each end side of the outdoor path they were on from the angry kett, while Scott ran cleanup stopping any kett lucky enough to make it past.

"I think Potter is probably giving them a hard time right about now" Cora grunted over their suits chanel as she crouched while a large kett with a full machine gun fired on full auto as he slowly walked towards her. She was having trouble just staying safe, let alone going on the offensive. That big bastard kept punching through her biotic barriers before she could get any kind of attack started.

Scott saw her predicament from his location and rushed over. As the big kett made his way towards her, he suddenly found himself under fire. His barrier popped from a high caliber sniper round and before he could find cover, the next round took him in the eye. "Honestly" Scott said, "I think Harry won't stay in that cell any longer than he wants to. He struck me a guy you couldn't keep contained if he didn't want to."

"Mr. Potter is currently occupied for the foreseeable future and won't be presenting any problems" SAM informed them. "Now you all need to report back to the path finder. There is a lull in battle while the kett gather reinforcements and your father has gotten the door open.

"Thanks Sam!" shouted the younger Ryder as they all sprinted back to the door.

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"Thank you for the all your hard work Mr. Potter. We only have one breach left to close." SAM informed him as they walked down another endless hallway. Harry was starting to feel fatigued and the guards were positively bored. Due to the tram being out, they had hiked all over the huge 1.5 km long length to find and fix the tears in the ship. Harry had begun to notice that he hadn't seen any crewmembers in the last 15 minutes as he neared the final breach. It was like the whole section of the ship had been evacuated. "We have arrived" SAM informed the 3 of them. "Depressurizing the hall and opening the final door now."

Harry watched as the blast door lifted away and exposed him to the inky blackness of space. Half of the room was gone. He looked farther ahead to where the next door should be and saw chunk of the ship's hull at least 2 quidditch pitches in length was simple missing from the rest of the ship, as if something huge had just taken a bite out of it. "Sam" Harry said after just staring at the nothingness for a few minutes, "I'm really starting to hate you right now. You're supposed to warn someone before you dump something like this on them."

"I'm sorry you feel that way Mr. Potter. I'll have to try harder in the future" was all he heard before SAM resumed his silence as he waited for Harry to begin working. Harry started walking into the room, but felt a tug on his shoulder.

"Hold on Mr. Potter." The friendlier of his guards had stopped him. "Tie this tether to your belt. We'll secure the other end of the line to the hall here. It'll hopefully stop you from getting spaced if something goes wrong."

"Thanks mate" Harry appreciated the gesture and felt a touch safer as he stepped out into the room and made his way along the wall towards the edge of the tear. As he moved along the edge of the hole, he felt the line pull tighter for a moment, causing him to turn around. His line appeared to be pulling against something he couldn't see, then fell to the ground, cleanly cut with the edges almost appearing to be burned like the ship's hull was. Harry cast a _lumos_ with his wand and slowly inched over towards where his line was cut. He began to feel a sense of wrongness, and stopped moving before slowly inching backwards. Whatever was there, his magic wanted nothing to do with it. "Sam" he said with a quiver in his voice, "If you weren't observing before, I could really use your input now." His omnitool lit up orange as SAM took over the sensor suite on it to observe what had Harry spooked. Harry pointed his wand at the strange thing again and chanted out loud " _Lumos Maxima_ ". His sight was restricted due to the bright light, but he was able to see a faint outline of a dark, semi transparent, pillar where he didn't see anything before. As the light died, Harry could hear the second guard swearing about "not getting a warning" and made a mental note to apologize later.

"That Mr. Potter, was the dark energy that damaged the Hyperion. It looks like a portion of it still speared into the ship. Please secure yourselves" he informed the 3 humans, "I'm going to request that the Captain move the ship farther away from the dark energy." Harry cast a sticking charm to his feet immediately, as well as the guard he had a line of site with. The dark energy was between him and the last guard though.

As the ship lurched forwards and to the side, the damaged room's reduced artificial gravity finally died out. The guard holding on under his own power was thrown against the wall of the room and limply tumbled out into space. As soon as the momentum cease, Harry undid his sticking charm and raced to the hole. He was able to spot the guard in the distance as he floated off into deep space. Harry waved the remaining guard over to him as he quickly cast a summoning charm at the spaced guard. "I've never cast this in space before" he explained to the other man as the human sized projectile sped towards them. "Usually there's some air friction to slow objects down, but out here we are on our own. Just try to catch him without hurting him worse." The guard nodded and braced himself alongside Harry as they waited. Within seconds the limp body flew through the hole into the men's arms.

"His monitor shows his vitals are still good, but I need to get him to sick bay just in case. Are you good by yourself here until I can get back?" asked the guard.

Harry simply gestured to the large gap in the ship. "I assure you, I'll be occupied for quite some time" he promised. The guard nodded and walked out of the other room with the unconscious guard flung over his shoulder. "All right, let's get down to business. Sam, can you take a scan of the damage? I have to fix this one room at a time and I need you to let me know if I missed any spots" Harry ordered as he moved forward again. With SAM's confirmation given, he started cutting.

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Scott couldn't believe how quickly things could go wrong. He lay on the ground where he had been blown after the alien machine had activated a defensive protocol when his father interfaced with it. His helmet was shattered and he could feel his lungs burning as he choked on the atmosphere of what was supposed to be the new human home world. He saw a shape run up to him but couldn't make out who it was with his eyes tearing up. The figure tore off the remains of Scott's helmet, before it put its own helmet on Scott's head.

As Scott's eyes adjusted to the clean air, he was able to make out who the figure was. To his horror, his father was now choking in the ruined atmosphere as he smiled faintly at Scott before he went limp in his son's arms. Scott's damaged lungs still weren't able to get his brain enough oxygen. As Scott's mind started to shut down, blackness began to creep in on the corners of his vision. The last thing he heard was Cora screaming frantically that they needed an evac now.

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Harry slowly trudged down the hall, his helmet in his hand as sweat dripped from his hair. It had been years since he had worked himself this hard, and he felt like he could sleep for for a week. It had taken hours to repair the huge gap, and the guard had never returned. SAM had informed him that another emergency had happened and that he wouldn't be able to help Harry. He did copy a subroutine into Harry's omnitool to help direct him though. The tool would broadcast a floating orange arrow in front of Harry, directing him on the path he needed to take. All Harry knew was that he needed to follow the arrow. It was to the point where he was walking on autopilot with his brain already turning off, not looking where he was heading.

He had begun to see people in his peripheral vision as he walked, but he was too tired to pay attention to him, and was ignored in turn as they performed their tasks. He had made it to a large "U" shaped atrium when he finally felt his body shutting down on him the rest of the way. The SAM arrow quickly pointed at a bench on the wall, where Harry limply fell onto face down, snoring. If one looked under him, you could see a puddle of drool beginning to pool on the floor.

"He almost made it" SAM thought to himself as he opened a line to Captain Dunn. "Captain, Mr. Potter has finished sealing the hull breaches. We still have some power fluctuations, but we can be underway whenever you are ready."

"Thank you SAM, that is a relief to hear" said Captain Dunn as she leaned on the rail in the bridge. It felt like the weight of the world had just fallen off her shoulders. "Where is Mr. Potter now? And what is the status of Scott Ryder? We've already lost too many people today."

SAM gave his report. "Mr. Ryder, the new Pathfinder, is recovering. When his father uploaded me to him, I healed most of his brain cells that were damaged from lack of oxygen. We can't be separated now, but otherwise he should make a full recovery. Mr. Potter utterly exhausted himself repairing the ship. I was directing him to you with a subroutine since I was busy with the Pathfinder, when Mr. Potter's body finally gave out. He is currently passed out, and most likely dehydrated, on a bench outside of the S.A.M. node where the Pathfinder is resting. I have informed the guards to let him rest, and keep an eye on him pending your orders ma'am."

Captain Dunn sighed to herself. There was no way she could lock Mr. Potter back up after what he did for them, but she would be damned if she let him roam free without knowing his motives. She would just have to let the new pathfinder decide what to do with him when they both woke up.

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Scott woke up with a jolt. He couldn't figure out where he was momentarily before it all came crashing back to him. His dad had sacrificed himself to save his son, naming him the new path finder for the human race in Andromeda as well. Scott knew he should be freaking out more than he was, but it seemed like SAM was helping deaden the feelings so it was just a dull ache instead of a fresh wound. "You're right Scott" SAM spoke to him from inside his head. "We have a lot to discuss. You should head to your father's room down the hallway when you are ready to move." Ryder spent the next few minutes assuring his crew members that he was functioning, if not ok and would go to them first if he needed support. After he finally attained some privacy, he made his way to his father's old quarters for a long overdue talk with SAM.

Meanwhile as this was happening, Cora and Liam had stopped walking after leaving the S.A.M. node hallway when Cora spotted a familiar head of hair asleep on a bench. "Now how the hell do you suppose he ended up here?" Cora wondered out loud to herself. "Last thing I heard was that he was assigned to the brig until the Pathfinder decided what to do with him."

"This is the guy you were talking about?" asked Liam. "He's tall enough, but he still looks kind of scrawny to me."

Cora shook her head as she looked at him. "Trust me, he is way tougher than he looks if half of what SAM says is true." She then looked back at Harry for a moment, watching him not even register the passing foot traffic and background noise. He was dead to the world. "We really need to play some sort of prank on him" she mummered as she drew closer.

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Scott emerged from his father's old quarters a few hours later, with a better sense of closure, but also with his mind wrapped around a whole new set of questions his father raised with his strange encrypted memories. Scott's only option at this point was to push them to the back of his head and keep moving forward. He had so much responsibility dropped on his head at once, that he felt like he was drowning. Luckily it would seem SAM was with him every step of the way, and he had learned to appreciate everything the A.I. could do.

He stopped short after only taking a few steps in the atrium though. Harry Potter, the man he was on his way to see, was laid out on a bench like he owned the place. Scott walked over to Harry and gave him a nudge with his foot. Harry didn't even register the movement. At this point Scott noticed a drinking fountain a few feet down connected to the wall. He filled up flash forged cup from his omnitool with water and returned back to the wizard, pouring the contents on his head. Harry woke up with a start, immediately trying to figure out where the danger was coming from. He relaxed once he saw Ryder waiting a few feet in front of him with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. "Come on, let's go meet with the Captain and figure out what to do with you" said Scott as he turned around and began to walk towards the bridge.

"Shouldn't we be waiting for your dad?" asked Harry as he stood up to follow. "The last I heard, he was going to be making the decision on my future."

Scott stopped in place, before giving Harry a cold look over his shoulder. He then continued walking. "There were complications on the mission. You're looking at the new Pathfinder." Nothing more was said on the way to the bridge.

Harry entered the room to find the Captain and Scott standing side-by-side waiting for him. "SAM told me about what you've done for the ship. Consider us back at square one, just like you hoped for" Scott said to Harry as he offered his hand to the wizard. Harry took it with a small smile, knowing how lucky he was for a second chance.

Captain Dunn waited for them to finish before she pushed the meeting along. "We've all had a rough day today, and there's a good chance it'll get worse before it gets better. We need to close this issue one way or the other and move onto more important things. To get this accomplished" she turned to Harry, "we need to know who you are, where you come from, and what your reason for being here is. What is said today will remain between us unless you ok the information to be disseminated, or you pose an active threat to the ship and crew. Do you agree?"

Harry took a moment to process all of this before nodding to the Captain. He had done some soul searching while repairing the ship, and had decided that he was going to have to be upfront with at least a few people if he expected to make it very far. It just wasn't possible to hide everything he could do and expect to thrive in a new galaxy. He proceeded to give the two leaders of the Hyperion the down and dirty life story of Harry Potter, while skimping on the details of some of his abilities. He wasn't sure how the hell to explain being Master of Death and all it entailed, let alone being a parcelmouth.

"Wait, wait, wait. Time out" Ryder said with his hands coming up to shape a "T". "You're telling me that there is a whole community of magic committing genocide on itself? Along with a number of magical animals and plants?"

"No" Harry corrected him, "I'm telling you there WAS all of that. When the barriers were put up to block off the magical areas from the rest of the world, it literally stripped the magic from everything outside of them to power it. This takes way more power than you think. It literally makes the areas cease to exist in this reality. Haven't you wondered why there still are still borns on Earth in this age of medicine? Those poor souls are the ones that should have been born magical, but had their gift stripped at birth. Their magic goes to power the barrier. The same goes for any magical plants and animals in the rest of the world as well. The biologists called it the last great extinction cycle, and blamed it on global warming before Earth switched over to renewables."

"How the fuck can you possibly be ok with any of that?" Ryder demanded to know. He knew he would have marched into their government building, guns blazing if given the opportunity.

Harry gave a dark chuckle as he contemplated how to answer the question. "I'm not a mathematician, so don't ask me to break it down, but this isn't a problem anymore. I had a few smart friends that worked out the mechanics behind the barrier after it was erected. Our leaders didn't take enough time to understand the consequences before taking action. The barrier needed a huge amount of energy at its creation. That lead to the great die out. Now though, the barrier is only fed by the magic of babies, and that isn't nearly enough power to sustain it. To keep itself up, it has been slowly drawing power from the wizarding populace and magical creatures inside it. They only had a few generations at best before they fell victim to the thing that protects them, the very same way that they caused for others. Considering that we have been gone for over 600 years now, I'm confident in saying they're dust. Magic might return to Earth one day, but i'm the last wizard alive."

"I didn't have plans for the future when I boarded the Hyperion" he said with a thoughtful look on his face, like he was only just now coming to the conclusion himself. "I had tried living in the world with everyone but my magic was slowly being drained like everyone else's. I had to leave the planet to escape that fate, but I didn't know where to go until I heard Jean Garson's speech at a event I was mixing drinks for. I figured that if I was going to start over somewhere, it might as well be in a whole new galaxy. You know the rest."

While Ryder and Dunn quietly discussed everything Harry had told them, Harry took the chance to conjure up a glass and fill it with an water from an _aguamenti_ spell. He had a bad case of cottonmouth after having to give a speech like that. As he drank, he noticed his omnitool was glowing a blazing orange, showing SAM had dedicated a large amount of is processing power to observe Harry's recent activity. "Mr. Potter" SAM asked slowly and carefully, "did you just create water from nothing with your energy?"

Harry shrugged lazily and finished his drink off before vanishing the glass. "It's called magic SAM, and yes I did. It's not that big of a deal. Any wizard 13 years old and up could manage it." SAM took in this information and stored it away with a tag to continue the discussion later on. At this point he noticed that the two leaders had finished their discussion and were returning over to him. Neither one looked too happy, but that was good news to Harry. It meant a compromise had been reached, which was most likely something besides prison.

It looked like Scott would be telling him what his future held. "Ok Harry, we have decided on what to do with you. Originally I wanted you on my team, no questions asked. I can't help but think about past events that could have been avoided if we had your abilities on hand. The captain managed to talk me out of making such an emotional decision though, since it's not how the Pathfinder should behave. If you'll agree to it though, we'd like you to try out for the team. We need to know if your fighting and survival skills are good enough to make it in alien planets. Are you interested?"

Harry took a moment to consider it before giving a single nod. "I can assume it's fair to say if I didn't do it, I would find myself on a repair crew until the ship was decommissioned, or a few settlements were established, correct?" At the Captain's confirmation and Ryder's guilty look, he continued on. "I'm willing to try out, but if it doesn't work out, I will not be anyone's slave. I left my old world to escape that, and I won't return to it in a new location."

Captain Dunn scowled at his accusation and opened her mouth to defend herself, only to be cut short by a loud beeping sound from one of the crew stations. "Captain" her crewman informed her, "We have a visual on the Nexus. It's exactly where it was supposed to be, but either the lights are off, or nobody's home." A giant space station hung in space on the viewscreen. It looked to be running on emergency power. It had taken a beating, with giant holes in parts of it, and one whole section appeared to only be half constructed.

Ryder whistled at it's size as they approached the docking bay that the Hyperion was assigned to. "I'm going to go over and figure out what happened to everyone" he informed Captain Dunn. "I'm taking Cora, Liam, and Harry with me. If all else fails, we might be able to repair it and run it ourselves."

Harry blinked at Ryder's statement, processing what he said for a moment. Harry looked at how bad the Nexus looked, while the work "repairs" flew back and forth in his head. "OH FUCK NO!" he shouted, pointing his finger at Ryder. He pulled his hand away from the surprised man to gesture at the viewscreen. "You want me to repair that massive piece of shit? That'll kill me before I'm halfway through!" He drug his fingers up over his face and through his hair in frustration. He heard a snort of laughter and saw Ryder biting his hand to stop from laughing out loud. Captain Dunn had a expression of distaste on her face like she had stepped in something awful.

Ryder approached Harry with a grin as he handed him a small mirror he had picked up from a work station. "Well if you look on the bright side of things, at least we know the team has already accepted you." The Captain snorted at his comment, and turned around to finish directing the docking procedures.

Harry used the surface to examine his face and see what ryder was talking about. As he pushed his hair back, he caught site of a large penis that had been drawn on his head in a way to incorporate the lightning bolt scar. "It's actually pretty artistically done" he thought to himself as he tried to rub it off, only to discover it was done with permanent marker.

He sent a glare to Ryder before he began to march off to the tram to the docking bay. He already had multiple ideas for vengeance, he just needed a target now. Cora was currently with Liam in the armory, prepping for the mission to the Nexus that Ryder just informed them about. All of a sudden she felt a shiver run down her spine. "I'm not sure why" she thought to herself, but I'm afraid to go on this mission all of a sudden…"


	3. Chapter 3

Harry pouted to himself as he sat in the corner of the locker room with his arms folded across his chest. The Ark: Hyperion was on slow approach to the blacked out Nexus and was due to dock in the next 20 minutes. Ryder had decided to lead a team over to investigate what had happened to the space station, and had chosen a team of Liam, Cora, and Harry to support him. The team had proceed to gather and inspect their equipment, when an unexpected problem had ensued. Scott had asked for any records Harry had to prove his proficiencies in weapons types. All Harry had available though was his latest pistol shooting record showing a damn near perfect score from the civilian firing range he attended before leaving Earth. This was enough to earn him a standard pistol and ammo clips, but Ryder refused to give him anything heavier until Harry could prove himself at a firing range, despite the wizard's assurances that he was competent.

Harry sat on the bench and stared at the pistol with loathing. He had already stripped and put it back together in almost record time while the rest of the team drew their weapons. Ryder and Liam both preferred standard assault rifles as primary weapons, though Ryder had a pistol as a backup weapon to not weigh down his biotics, while Liam had a sniper rifle for long range work. Cora, being true to her position as the team vanguard, used a shotgun as her primary weapon with a pistol to fall back on for quick work. Her biotics would do most of her talking though. Harry wouldn't say he was feeling inadequate with his barely there ordinance, but he felt the need to prove that he was more than just a walking magic dispensary like he seemed to be labeled as.

"Don't worry Harry, you'll get bigger guns after you prove you can handle them." Harry tried to be consoled by Ryder's words, but it didn't help that they were delivered with a grin instead of a serious expression. "Besides" his team lead continued, "you'll need to observe how we function as a unit so we don't step on each other's toes. Consider this as a live fire training run. Hopefully we won't have to anything worse then make contact with the Nexus's crew, but better safe than sorry."

Harry nodded at this, standing and attaching his pistol to the magnetic plate on his hardsuit. He proceeded over to where the rest of the group was waiting, getting a pat on the shoulder in greeting from Liam. They boarded the tram, traveling to the docking station and proceeding to the airlock. As the airlock cycled and the blast door raised up into the ceiling, they were met with darkness punctured by dim luminescence supplied by emergency lights spaced out on the open pathway into the station. Harry turned to the team and made sure he had all of their attention before speaking. "I know I'm the new guy, but I'd like to make a small request. Can we please keep what I can do under wraps from who we meet for as long as possible? I imagine that people still here might be desperate, and that can go really bad, really fast for me if they know about my powers."

Liam and Cora remained silent as they nodded to his request, but Pathfinder stared hard at him before answering a few seconds later. "I won't throw you to the wolves to solve every little problem they have" he promised. "I've always been raised that people who help themselves are the strongest. But, if I think you can help something to prevent suffering or loss of life, then I won't keep your skills hidden. I will promise you though that I won't let them abuse you and I will always keep track of you. You are my team member first, and they do not get to take you away."

Harry knew he wasn't going to get a better deal than that, especially after the Hyperion was close to fully repaired from its run in with the Scourge due to his handling the hull repair while the crew could concentrate on internal systems. He returned the pathfinder's gaze, before giving his response. "I can live with that."

The team lined back up to enter the station, with Cora in the lead, followed by Scott, then Harry, and Liam bringing up the rear. As their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they noticed that most of the side hallways and stairwells were full of storage containers and stacks of construction materials. The air was growing stale, and there wasn't the usual background hum of life support system's air circulators doing their job. There didn't look to be any major signs of combat though. It was as if everyone had given up and walked away in the middle of building the space station. "What do you think happened to everyone?" Cora whispered as she looked around for any threats.

Scott had been busy scanning anything interesting with his omnitool to feed the information to SAM. "I'm not sure" he answered. "The Nexus and her crew should have been here for over a year now since they left before the Ark ships. Construction should have been mostly finished by now."

As they continued down the entrance ramp, they came upon a blue, glowing circle on the floor. As it detected their proximity, a VI of a young asari came into being in front of them. "Hello" she said in a chipper voice, "I'm Avina. Welcome to the Nexus! I'm here to answer any questions you might have." The V.I. sat still at this point, almost as if someone had hit the pause button, waiting for input from the team in front of it. The pathfinder tried asking it a few basic questions, but its information was so out of date, that it was borderline useless for anything besides a quick laugh. It still insisted that humans were preparing to colonize their new home at Habitat 7.

"Let's keep moving." Scott waived his team forward as he led them down the rest of the ramp to the station's floor. As they rounded a corner made of shipping containers, they spotted their first signs of life on the station. A human crewman was working on a sparking light, decked out in a full hard suit with helmet. "Hello?" Scott called out, trying to get the man's attention. "Are you the welcoming committee?"

The crewman turned around and blinked lazily at them, as if he was having trouble trying to process anything that fell outside his established daily routine. "Who are you?" he asked as he examined the team. "I don't remember seeing you before."

"That would be because we're from the Hyperion" Harry supplied from the back of the group. He had been so quiet up to this point, that everyone had almost forgotten that he was there. "We just docked with station and were wondering where the hell everyone was at."

As the crewman started to get more excited as he heard Harry's statement, a voice rang out from farther up the pathway. "That will be all crewman" said a tall individual in blue power armor as he walked towards the group. He pulled off his helmet to reveal a white plated turian with blue face paint. He turned to Scott and offered his hand while introducing himself. "Tiran Kandros, head of the Nexus militia. We're glad you've finally arrived. People were starting to lose hope around here. Follow me and I'll introduce you to the leadership." He started walking back up the path further into the Nexus with the team following behind.

"I'm Scott Ryder, Pathfinder for Ark: Hyperion. This is my team Liam, Cora, and Harry" He gestured at them. "Kandros…" Ryder said trying to recall the name from his briefing. "I don't remember you as one of the team leaders on the Nexus when we set out." He was feeling in the dark and trying to fish for any information on what he was walking into.

The turian apparently took pity on Scott as he tried to explain further. "I don't want to give too many details until we're with the rest of the leadership, but we've had some hard times since arriving in Andromeda. We've lost a lot of our leadership on arrival due to the Scourge, and experienced an armed rebellion that almost turned into an insurrection. This has led to new leaders having to step into a lot of positions." He glanced at Scott as they continued on. "I'm sure you can understand that since Alec Ryder was supposed to be the human path finder, last I heard. Director Tann can give you the details."

Before Scott could think up a suitable reply, they rounded the final corner to the command section of the Nexus and stepped out onto a multi-tiered bridge that faced a blank grey wall. Scott turned to his team before he continued to where Kandros was waiting for him. "Cora. Liam. I want you to spread out and start talking with the crew. We need as many details as we can get about what went down here, and what needs to be done to get back on track. I'll find you later on to compare notes. Harry, you're sticking with me for now. I want to know what is going on before I turn you lose. We might need your help sooner than you think." The team broke up at that point with Harry following the Pathfinder on to a patiently waiting head of security.

Scott found himself in a group with 4 other individuals in the corner of the bridge. Kandros introduced him to the rest of the group. "Pathfinder, this is Jarun Tann, the Director of the Andromeda Initiative" He indicated a salarian standing straight up with his arms folded behind his back.

"Pathfinder, it's a pleasure to meet you" Tann said, giving Harry the impression of a cross between a politician and a used car salesman. "I'm looking forward to working with you for the better…"

"What I want to know" the human woman in the group interrupted, glaring daggers at both Tann and Ryder, "is where the hell is Alec Ryder? He was supposed to be leading all of us in this fucking operation, and now he's missing."

Kandros sighed while palming his face with his talons. "This is Foster Addison, the Director of Colonial Affairs."

Addison scoffed at the introduction. "It's a position with no authority since we don't actually have any colonies to administer." She grit he teeth and balled her fists in clear frustration.

Scott assessed her for a second before deciding to answer her in the most professional way possible. He did not want her anger directed at him for something he had no control over. "The Hyperion ran into the Scourge while in route to Habitat 7. While the ship was repairing damages suffered from the dark energy, the Pathfinder, Alec Ryder, led a team down to the surface of the planet to investigate. We ran into a hostile alien race while there, and we're forced to interact with a second alien race's technology to attempt to clear up the continuous lightning storms stopping us from leaving the planet. The Pathfinder died, sacrificing his own life to save mine. He named me the new pathfinder and transferred SAM to myself before he passed away."

This didn't do anything to help Adison's disposition however. She reacted to the bad news with even more anger. "So Habitat 7 is also a bust for colonization, and to make matters worse, Alec Ryder is dead. The Pathfinder isn't supposed to be inherited from father to son. It's the leader of humanity in Andromeda! This shouldn't be…"

"Let's at least give him a chance as the Pathfinder" said the krogan, who had remained silent for now. She turned to Scott and extended her hand for a shake. "I'm Nakmor Kesh, the Superintendent of the Nexus. Thanks for bringing the power we need to make the station operational again. We're hooking up into your ship's power core right now." As she finished, the lights came back on in the station, and the blast doors covering the wall in front of the bridge slid back to show a view of both sprawling arms of the Nexus Space Station. Harry had to admit, it was a damn impressive sight. He hadn't appreciated the size of the Nexus until he could see how much it dwarfed the Hyperion where it was docked to the station's command and control ring.

Tann cleared his throat to get everyone's attention again. "Pathfinder, please come visit my office soon. We still need to discuss what your plans are for the future." He turned around and walked off, not changing his path for any of the work being done, forcing others to move around him.

Addison turned to Scott, visibly calmed down from earlier. "You should probably talk to all of us individually before you make any long term plans Pathfinder. We all have something to contribute to your mission. My office is up there" she indicated to the corner of the upper level of the bridge, before walking off.

Kesh and Kandros proceeded back to their workstations as well as Scott turned to Harry. "I won't subject you to anymore of the politics" he said. "You haven't done anything to deserve that pain and suffering. I'm giving you access to the accounts that belong to the Pathfinders. I want you to go get kitted up with a full set of weapons and armor from the stores here. That utility hardsuit won't stop a snowball and I want your weapons available for when I clear their use. See if you can get anything the team might need later as well. Resources will only get more expensive as they run out here until we set up new colonies to make them, so it's best to get what we can now. Otherwise, find out what you can, then locate a bar for all of us to meet up at afterwards. I have a feeling I'm going to need a drink. Use your discretion if you feel the need to help anyone, but if you need assistance, I'm only a comm link away."

With a sloppy salute and an about face that almost caused him to fall over, Harry walked down to the atrium behind the bridge to see if he could find anything interesting before he left for the shopping trip. Ryder grinned at the cheeky attitude, watching him go. "SAM, he thought inside his head, be sure to keep track of him and let me know if he causes any major problems." SAM gave an affirmative and began his side mission, Operation: Potter Watch.

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Harry had to admit, he wasn't that eager to visit the security sections of the station. He had never gotten along with aurors or cops wherever he lived. For some reason, whenever he took care of crimes that happened either around or to him, he would almost always get treated as badly by law enforcement as if he was a criminal himself. Harry had hopes that the new galaxy wouldn't be buried in bureaucracy like the Milky Way was, but he wasn't holding his breath. He had met Director Tann after all. Besides, he could see that Liam had that part under control. His team member was busy chatting up a female turian cop at the other end of the office.

Harry stopped short as he passed by the prison cells. One of them had a turian in it that looked like he was resigned to his fate. He had already given up on hope and just wanted the process to be carried out. The other cell had a human in it. The young man looked like he had gotten the shit kicked out of him. Harry found a turian guard behind the desk outside of the cells and cleared his throat to get his attention. "Excuse me officer" Harry said, having to physically repress the giddiness that tried to come out of his voice. "Can you tell me what happened to that guy and how long he has been in there?"

The officer looked up and shrugged. "Sure, his name's Nilken Rensus and he's been convicted of murdering a fellow turian. He's been in there f…"

"What? No, I mean the human" Harry corrected him. "Fuck that other guy. I'm sure you have your reasons for why he's behind bars"

"The human? He got drunk and took a swing at a cop when he was escorted out of the bar. We "pacified" him and threw him in the cell to cool off. It's been 3 days now. He's still breathing so there isn't any issues." The guard was getting defensive. No one cared about drunks unless a lawsuit was being formed.

Thank You" Harry called over his shoulder as he left the office. As soon as he got around the corner to a relatively secluded area he lifted his omnitool up to his face with a grin and called SAM.

"How can I help you Mr. Potter" SAM asked with his usual professionalism.

"Well SAM, you can take back that line about me being the first human incarcerated in the galaxy and scrub it from your logs. That drunk was thrown in a cell days before me" said Harry with a smug grin.

"I'll be happy to update your prison records Mr. Potter. Might I suggest you vacate the area? It seems that some of the police are starting to take an interest in you judging by the message traffic from the area." Harry quickly looked up from his omnitool, seeing 4 different officers within hearing distance all staring at him after listening to his rant at SAM. Discretion was the better part of valor in this case, and the wizard quickly started walking away.

His feet led him to the back of the atrium, where a group of scientists were fighting over 2 workstations available for usage. He decided to not get in the middle of that debate and moved on. He heard a lone female turian swearing to herself as she was hunched over her terminal in the corner and decided to investigate. "Good afternoon Ms." He said as he stopped a few feet behind her. "You seem to be having a hard time with something. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Oh, sorry. I didn't know you could hear me. My name is Sidera Nyx by the way. I'm just getting frustrated over my job. I do logistics for the Nexus. I can't think of how you could possibly help me at the moment though." Sidera wasn't usually this talkative, but hadn't had much contact with other beings for a day as she was glued to her screen. She found it easy to open up to this human even though he was a complete stranger.

"The name is Harry Potter." Harry gave her a bow, and with a flourish of his hand, handed her a conjured card with his name and contact information on it. "And it was a pleasure to make your acquaintance Ms. Nyx."

"Please just call me Sid" she requested. "I have a sister here and it gets confusing when our last name is used." She stared at the card with a surprised expression. "You actually have cards? No one uses those anymore."

Harry just grinned. "I find it makes a better impression when you can give someone something physical to remember me by. Now if you'll excuse me Sid, I have to go see what's for sale on this station and who actually runs the market here. I'll swing by to talk to you later." Sid gave him a wave and returned to work as he sauntered off, proud of how cool he had acted. Harry decided that he might as well go and get his shopping finished. There was no telling when the Pathfinder decided it was time to continue on with the mission.

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Harry noticed immediately upon entering the commons that some serious unpacking still needed to be done. Containers still littered the area, but at least he could access everything. He immediately proceeded to the vendors stations to see what was available for purchase. Finding armor and a set of weapons was easy, as long as you didn't mind that the stock was subpar. Harry was of the opinion that anything worth keeping long term was usually either made by himself, or inherited from someone who felt it was worth passing down.

He casually walked over to a corner behind a cage out of the public's line of sight and shrunk his purchases, placing them into his pocket. As he got ready to leave, he noticed that an eyeball from inside the cage was watching him. Harry could have sworn he had heard similar sounds coming from the cage as he had when he visited the London Zoo. He cast a quick transparency charm on the side of the cage, and found himself looking at the strangest version of a monkey he had ever seen before. The thing looked a cross between a lemur and a gorilla, and was about the size of a large dog. Harry heard a commotion on the other side of the box, and stepped out from it quickly after canceling his charm.

A female turian was loudly arguing with a general goods vendor over the lack of stock. Harry felt for her. He had hoped to to find some useful resources for the team, but only was able to find some rather expensive minerals and a few useless trinkets. Honestly, what the hell was he supposed to do with a few "limited edition" model starships? The turian noticed Harry watching her and turned to examine him. "Can I help you stranger?" she asked as she began to notice the human's slightly disheveled appearance. He looked like he had just gotten off of a 32 hour shift and hadn't made it home to freshen up yet. Despite that, he wasn't displeasing to look at, and his eyes were such a vivid shade of green that it just seemed to draw her in.

Harry chuckled as he walked closer to her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come off rude. My name is Harry Potter and I just overheard your altercation, and couldn't help but agree with you. The selection here is crap. I'm trying to locate other dealers at the moment, be the honest, or the more "resourceful" kind to help stock my team for future missions."

"Well you're in luck there Harry Potter. I'm Vetra Nyx and I can be your best friend if you need to access the black market around here. I know how to get just about anything from anybody. Why don't you tell me what you're willing to trade and we can get started." The turian cocked her hip as she leaned forward smiling at Harry.

"I appreciate the offer Ms. Nyx, but this would go alot faster if you just gave me a list of what your buyers are looking for, and what stock their offering. I have way more of a variety available to me then you would believe." Harry had gone on a buying spree before leaving earth. He had most of his magical possessions stored in his moleskin pouch around his neck and one magical trunk back in his room on the Hyperion. This left 4 nearly bottomless trunks to fill up with random things that Harry thought he might need for the trip, and fill them he did. Harry had bought out department store chains over the greater area of London, following shopping trips in tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, and a delightful Krispy Kreme store down the road from his flat. Thank Merlin for preservation potions. Harry would have a steady supply of junk food for hundreds of years, fresh as the day he had bought it.

Vetra eyed the interesting human for a moment to see if he was trying to pull a fast one on her. Everyone had a weight limit to the amount of material they could bring, and the black market was hot as people's nostalgia caught up with them over items left behind. She sent Harry the necessary files, then turned around to continue the conversation with the shopkeeper. She noticed the human begin to walk off, but as he was almost gone, she heard him call out "Oh, and tell Sid I said hello." Vetra turned around in a flash, ready to ask the human just how he knew her little sister. She found she was the only one in the hall though. The human was long gone. She would be talking to her sister later about Harry Potter.

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Harry whistled to himself as he slowly walked around the botanical garden admiring actual greenery. He hadn't realized just how much he had missed it until he saw the large tree. Now he was trying not to cry as he heard a breeze pass through it's leaves. The professor in charge of the garden was a step from throwing him out, when he saw the stranger stop and just enjoy the nature. He smiled to himself and moved off, confident that he had found someone else who appreciated as much as himself. Harry opened his eyes, and slowly moved off towards the wall, out of the foot traffic. He had already called Ryder to let him know the location of the bar. It looked like Liam was already there, chatting up the barkeeps. He decided he'd come back later, and moved on in his exploration.

He had just been walking through an apartment complex off of the gardens when he spotted a hole cut into the floor, big enough for people to trip in. He checked for anyone in the area, made sure no one was down the hole, then sealed it up with a reparo. He stood up to move off, confident that he had done his good deed for the day, when a shadow fell across him. He slowly turned to find Nakmor Kesh inches from his face, staring a hole through him. "I know you" Kesh said slowly as she looked from Harry to the floor, then back again. "You're part of Ryder's crew. I had thought the Hyperion was in damn good shape for hitting the Scourge less than 24 hours ago, but the Captain wouldn't say how she managed it." She slowly grabbed the collar of Harry's and lifted him off the ground. "Tell me how you fixed the floor" she demanded.

Harry knew this wasn't the time to be a smart ass, but dammit, he didn't want to tell her anything. It wasn't her business. He looked her dead in the eye and said one word "Magic." To his surprise, Kesh didn't get angry. She lowered him back to the ground, and then drug him farther down the corridor to where an explosion had taken out part of the wall separating a bedroom from the hall.

Kesh pointed at it, then gave him a light shove towards it. "Use your 'magic' to fix it" she ordered, eyes paying attention to every movement he made. "Don't try to run. I've been trained by one of the greatest warriors of my clan, and I will track you down."

Harry knew a lost cause when he saw it and turned back to the wall. One wave of his hand later, and the wall was looking like it had never been damaged at all. He threw in a cleaning charm as well, just to be a dick. Now that part of the passage looked way cleaner than the rest of it, bringing attention to its filthy state. He tried moving away slowly as Kesh was transfixed by the newly whole wall in front of her, only to have a claw reach out and catch the back of his shirt. "I don't care where you plan on going" Kesh said, "but you're mine now. We're fixing this station from top to bottom, even if I have to marry you to keep you here." Harry's eyes bugged out as Kesh took his arm and began to pull him down the hallway. He had a sudden urge to gnaw his arm off with his own teeth at the elbow like a coyote. Two crewmen who were fixing a junction box saw what was happening. They silently stood and offered salutes to Harry as he was drug by.

Harry was desperate at this point. He pointed over Kesh's shoulder and shouted "Look Out! That salarian has a test tube!" As she released him and turned around to sink into a defensive crouch, Harry took the chance and apparited back to his room on the Hyperion. Normally he never would have tried such a feat. No one ever apparited in a moving vehicle since their location might be filled with something else by the time they reach their target. The starship was stationary tough, and within his range. He fell backwards onto his bed, realizing how lucky he had gotten that his bullshit had worked as a distraction. That was never going to work on Kesh again. Harry started packing up his belongings back into his trunk, before shrinking his trunks again and storing all five of them in his pocket.

As he sat trying to figure out what to do next, his omnitool chimed. He answered it to see Ryder's relieved face staring back at him. "Harry, SAM notified me of what happened. He's panicking because he can't find you now. I'll let him know you're safe. Listen, we got a ship. She's called _The Tempest_ and she is docked in the first station of the commons area. Can you get down here? We're almost done boarding. We have our first planet to explore and need to get going."

"I can make it" Harry assured him. "But I need you to do me a favor. Kresh will be looking for me, and I don't think I can shake her easily. Can you put the ship in hover, with the cargo bay door down for me? It doesn't have to be low to the ground, just visible."

"Yeah, I can make that happen" said Ryder as he started moving towards the bridge to find the pilot.

"OK, but be ready, I'll be coming in fast" warned Harry as he cut his connection. He used a glamor to alter his appearance. He now looked like a middle aged blonde man with a nasty scar on the right side of his face. Harry walked to the tram, and took it to the commons area. As he disembarked from it, he noticed Kesh with a few of her engineers on the look out for him. He started walking through the main path, hugging the wall away from them while trying to act natural. All of a sudden, he noticed Kesh's nostrils flare and she turned in his general direction. "Shit" he cursed in his head. "She's already picked up my scent!"

As he passed a bush, blocking her line of sight, he performed a switching spell on the his shirt and with a man going in the opposite direction. Kesh stopped for a moment, her sense of smell confusing her as she could scent her prey going in two different directions. She chose to track the scent going towards the tram, thinking he was trying to escape again. As she grew closer to it, she heard a loud "Crack" in the distance. This was exactly the noise made before Potter had escaped her before! She craned her head looking for him, then noticed a form hanging onto a closing cargo ramp as it hovered overhead.

Harry couldn't resist, dropping his glamor, and waving a conjured hat at Kesh's distant form. "You'll always remember this as the day you almost caught Harry Potter!" He threw her the finger for good measure as he slowly made his way up the closing ramp into the ship as it prepared to take off.

Scott stood in the middle of the cargo desk smiling at him and shaking his head as Harry made his way to him. "You know we're going to have to continually come back here to get updates to the missions right?"

Harry gave him the finger too.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The most excited asari in the galaxy...

"What the hell is this crap?" the wizard muttered to himself as he spied a few boxes in the corner of the room. He had been pacing for a few minutes while he tried to burn off the excess energy due to his great escape from the Nexus. Ryder chuckled to himself as he watched Harry look around the cargo bay of the Tempest. It was almost deja vu of what the pyjack did when he first released it from his cage. Now if only… yep, Harry absentmindedly scratched his ass as he hunched over a box of parts, sifting through them for anything interesting. Ryder bit his tongue to keep from laughing as he silently ordered SAM to upload the files of Harry and the pyjack side by side into an email. He would have it ready to send to all personnel on the Tempest, as well as key people on the Nexus, the moment Harry tried to prank him. There was nothing better then a good bit of blackmail to start out a long mission.

"Time to get down to business" the Pathfinder thought to himself as he brought up his omnitool. He opened up a channel to all the people on the ship and took a deep breath. "I need all of the crew to report to the meeting room to go over the mission specs. This means you too Kallo. Put it on autopilot when you get us a safe distance from the Nexus and come on up." He waved at Harry as he walked towards the door to the main hallway. "Come on, I'll give you the tour while we go."

Harry paid close attention as Ryder pointed out the various rooms and their purposes to him. He was trying to find a good place to mark off as his own, but space seemed to be a premium on the small ship. He couldn't help but be jealous of Ryder as he saw "the Pathfinder's Cabin." The room was bigger then the crew quarters, kitchen, and bathroom all put together. He noticed Scott grinning smugly at him as he stared around the large room. The wizard silently promised to show him just what a wizarding tent could do.

Harry followed Ryder up a ramp into a circular office open to the floor below with a balcony and a rail surrounding the edge that he could lean on. The room was dominated by a large circular table in the middle of it, which looked to contain long range communication gear as well. "OK" Ryder announced, grabbing the rooms attention. "Circle around the table and let's get introductions out of the way so we can get this mission started. Everyone, this is Harry Potter, a member of the ground team. Harry, let me introduce you to the rest of the crew." He gestured to the two humans on his left, "You already know Liam and Cora. They're coming along as well, and will also be part of the ground team ." Harry waved at them while grinning. Liam grinned right back while Cora resisted the urge to facepalm. Every time she tried to be professional in front of the Pathfinder, Harry seemed able to ruin the mood with no real effort on his part. Scott gestured to the salarian and blonde woman across from him "Up next is our bridge crew. Our salarian pilot is Kallo Jath and our science officer is Dr. Suvi Anwar." Kallo gave a short, precise nod to the wizard while Suvi shot him a shy smile. "Moving on" Ryder gestured to a human male, "This is Gil Brodie, our engineer." Gil ran his eyes over Harry quickly while offering a smirk. Harry felt a chill go down his spine, and subtly moved closer to the pathfinder as he offered a nod back. "This is Dr. Lexi T'Perro, our ship's doctor." Ryder said, as he pointed at the lone asari in the room. He inched away from Harry, determined to regain his personal bubble, as the wizard exchanged greetings with the doctor. "And finally, we have Vetra Nyx, another member of the ground team, and also our logistical support." Vetra offered Harry a smile and a wave, before turning back to the Pathfinder.

"This is Eos" said Ryder as he brought up a planet on the hologram presenter in the table. Everyone saw an arid, brown colored planet rotating in front of them. "It's a beautiful radioactive little dirtball of a planet with over 100 mph winds. For the sake of the crew that haven't been in Andromeda for a year already, here's a little bit of a history on the planet so far. There have already been two failed colony attempts by the Nexus, called Promise and Resilience. They both were good tries, but lost to the environment and the kett. Those bastards seem to almost thrive in the planet's radiation and are able to perform raids with damn near impunity anywhere they wish. They'll most likely be our biggest problem down there, so be sure to stay together with the rest of the team at all times. Is there any questions so far?"

He paused to look around the room. When no one volunteered anything, he continued with his briefing. "Our main mission is to investigate Eos to see if we can make it safe enough to attempt to settle another colony there. We'll start out by investigating Site 1: Promise, and go from there. Finding out any extra details about what happened to them can only help in the long run. We have a number of side missions as well, from identifying mineral samples, to returning a locket to a grave, to helping prove the innocence of someone languishing in a prison cell on the Nexus right now. I'm sure other missions will pop up as well while we investigate, so plan on staying here for a bit. We'll be underway once the briefing is over, and expect to reach it tomorrow morning at 0900." At this point, the Pathfinder saw Harry with his hand raised in the air. "Yes Harry? And I'd like to remind everyone that this isn't a classroom. Speak up if you have something to share."

Harry sheepishly lowered his hand before his face formed into a frown. "If you're talking about that turian in the jail cell, why the hell are you helping him? You can tell he's guilty just from looking at his eyes."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!" Vetra challenged Harry as she stepped towards him. "Do you have something against my kind?"

Harry turned to her, confused at what she was insinuating. "Uh, no? I like 'your kind' just fine. Human's believe that you can tell a person's truthfulness by eye contact. If an individual can't even maintain it with you while telling you something, it's almost always a lie."

Ryder rubbed his chin as he thought over his conversation with the prisoner. "Come to think of it, he barely looked at me at all while we talked. It was like he was ashamed of something… Either way, there's more to this then we've been told and we'll look into it as time permits. If that's all, then this meeting is over." He looked up to see that everyone was already walking away before he could dismiss them. "This team is definitely going to take some work" he thought to himself.

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Harry felt a talon tap him on the shoulder as he wandered back towards the cargo hold. He turned around to see Vetra looking at the ground with her arms crossed over her chest. "I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot in the meeting" she apologized. She looked up at him as she continued. "I've met a lot of humans over the years that still don't like turians after the first contact issue, and it's tough not to get defensive. I hope I haven't ruined any chance to get to know you.." she trailed off as she noticed Harry digging around in his pockets instead of listening to her.

Harry looked up at her as he noticed the silence. "Don't worry, I'm listening. You just jogged my memory on something." He finally found what he was looking for as he pulled out a bar of dextro-chocolate before passing it to the surprised turian. "You're sister was a big fan of this stuff when I gave her a bar, and I figured there was a good chance you would be too. I hope you like it."

Vetra couldn't believe what he had just handed to her. "Do you have any idea what this is worth?" She asked him in incredulously? "I've seen someone stabbed for half a bar, they're so rare now. Where did you get it?" She couldn't fathom why a human would carry around food that he couldn't eat, when everyone had a weight limit to what they could bring with them to Andromeda. Humans ate levo-based food after all, dextro was damn near useless to them since their bodies couldn't digest it.

The wizard just gave her a half smile and a shrug. "You'd be amazed what can be found at a Walmart now a days. The one by the embassies carries all kinds of products from other homeworlds. You also wouldn't believe half of the things people wear there" he added with a shudder. "I'll see you around" he waved over his shoulder as he continued towards the cargo bay. It was time to show the Pathfinder that he wasn't the only one with a good bachelor pad.

Harry moved to the front corner of the cargo bay, admiring the relatively open space available for himself. There was only a workbench and a few crates he had to worry about. Using his magic, he quickly stacked the crates to isolate a small corner of the bay, using a few sticking charms to ensure they would stay in place. He had left a small walkway in and out, effectively making himself a fort. Harry pitched his wizarding tent and stepped back to admire his new pad. He had considered putting up repelling wards, but they never seemed to work that well against salarians and asari due to their respective increased thought processes and natural biotics. "If they find it, then they find it" he told himself as he sent a message to Ryder, asking him to come down to the cargo bay.

Harry was in the middle of unshrinking his chests in the main bedroom when he heard Ryder's voice from outside. "Seriously Harry? You made me come down here to show me a tent? We have a perfectly good bunk space. That looks cramped as hell."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Think about everything you've found out about me in the past few days, then ask that question again. Or even better, you just could come in like the message said to." He stuck his head out into the main living area in time to watch Scott's expression morph as he entered the tent and realized how much bigger it was internally.

Scott couldn't believe his eyes. He left the tent to reassure himself he wasn't seeing things. It still was a small walk-in tent on the outside, barely large enough to fit someone laying on the ground. Walking back in though left him in an area the size of a large hunting cabin he had seen in his youth. He belatedly realized that this did fully beat his Pathfinder's Cabin, though he would never give the wizard the satisfaction of admitting it. "It's all right" he said with a shrug, "As long as you like the old fashioned look."

Harry ignored the jab as he gave Scott a quick tour of his home. "Harry" Scott asked as they made their way back to the living room, "How exactly are you planning on hiding this from the rest of the crew? It'll be pretty obvious that you don't sleep in the bunk area."

Harry shook his head as he sat down in a recliner and began to read a file on his omnitool. "It would be impossible to hide something like that. I'll explain my abilities to them as they discover it, but I don't really think I should advertise it at this point either."

The Pathfinder could agree to that viewpoint. "That works for me. Give me a few minutes to make sure everyone is settled in, then meet me outside in the cargo bay. We're going to make sure you're signed off on all the weapon types before we make planetfall tomorrow." Ryder grinned as he watched Harry roll his eyes and fire off a sloppy salute. "See you out there" he walked out of the tent, intent on finding the next crewman to talk with.

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Harry grinned to himself in the cargo bay as he cleaned his assault rifle, while a pistol, shotgun, and sniper rifle were all laid out in a circle around him. He had been good for his word and proven his competence with each weapon type to Ryder. Said Pathfinder grinned to himself as he watched Harry from across the bay, where he stood with Liam, Cora, and Vetra as they prepped their own gear. "Ok Harry." He continued on once he had the wizard's attention. "You're not taking all of those guns with you, whether you can use them or not. Pick your pistol, and one other weapon you want. This isn't a quick assault where you'll be in and out. We need to plan for a long term mission in a hostile environment, and that means traveling light. You're in the same situation as Cora and myself. We're going to be using biotics just as much as our weapons for fighting. Leave the heavy weapons for Liam and Vetra, our 'normals'" he said as he made air quotes with his fingers. Liam scowled at this, muttering about "why couldn't he have super powers" to himself.

This made enough sense to Harry that he didn't put up any kind of argument. He had his wand stored in a custom made quick ejection slot on the arm of his armor. He had trained himself to fire a pistol with his off hand at the same time, so he wouldn't have to switch back and forth to use his heavy spells. After considering his options, he opted for taking the assault rifle, leaving the rest in a pile on the workbench next to him. He walked over to join the rest of the team as they prepared to disembark. He could feel his stomach shift when the planet's gravity began to take hold of them as Kallo piloted them down to the surface.

The Tempest touched down inside the barriers set up around Site 1 as the cargo ramp lowered and the ground team disembarked to investigate. Harry paused for a moment as he set foot on Eos, appreciating the fact that he was the first wizard he knew of that had visited another planet, let alone another galaxy. Unfortunately, it was a moment in history that absolutely no one but him gave a crap about due to the rest of his population most likely being dust. With that cheerful thought grounding him back in reality, Harry set out jogging to catch back up with the rest of his team. The outpost consisted of 5 buildings set in a crude oval formation around a main road, with various towers and containers interspersed between them. The power seemed to be turned off throughout the entire base. Old combat damage could be seen on the outside of several structures, showing the not so peaceful history of the colony.

Harry listened as SAM briefed the Pathfinder on the steps that needed to be done to return power to the base. "Alright team, let's get those towers activated so we can turn on the colony's power again. Harry, I'm sending you to the top of the near tower. There should be a console to activate it up there. Cora and Liam will cover you from here. I'll be…" Harry was gone before he could finish his thought. The wizard reappeared on top of the tower in the distance, waving at them before he turned to the panel and activated the tower. A moment later, he was standing with the rest of the team again, staring at the Pathfinder expectantly. Scott took a second to gather his thoughts and calm down before he said something he might regret. "Harry, next time listen to the plan before you go. We're supposed to be a team, and you endanger all of us when you don't know what everyone is supposed to be doing."

Harry had the decency to look apologetic as he looked from Ryder to the rest of his team mates. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again. I was just so excited to finally be contributing to something besides repairs, that I got carried away." He had forgotten one important factor, not everyone on the team was aware his abilities.

While the dressing down of the wizard was occurring, Vetra turned to Liam and Cora. "Did he just fucking teleport himself? How the FUCK did he just teleport himself? Since when do humans teleport?" She was getting slightly hysterical trying to understand what had just happened. Ryder shot a dirty look at Harry, as if to say 'This is why you don't keep secrets on the team.' Harry returned the gaze with one of his own, eyebrow raised in challenge, silently saying 'You're the team lead, where was your decision on it?'

Ryder sighed as he turned to Vetra. "Harry is unique. There aren't any other humans like him in the universe. We didn't even know about his existence until we all woke up in Andromeda. If you treat him like a overpowered biotic, you'll be able to handle the situation a lot easier." Vetra gave a slow nod, visibly calming down as she noticed no one else on the team was surprised by what had just occurred.

"If you really want to describe my magic, it's almost the opposite of biotics" Harry offered up as an explanation, "Anti-Biotics if you will." Ryder facepalmed his mask at the poor joke, while Liam and Cora chuckled over their suit radios. "My magic can interact with people and the environment around us, but when it comes into direct contact with element zero, they cancel each other out. I've never been able to figure out why, and I've never been able to talk to anyone about it before." SAM filed Harry's explanation away for later as he made note to confer with the doctors aboard the Tempest about it.

"OK team, time to focus back on the mission" Ryder interrupted the conversation. "Vetra, go activate the other tower. Liam and Cora, provide cover for her. Harry, you're with me. We're heading over to the main power console to activate it when ready." The team split off to perform their tasks. Harry followed Ryder to one of the unpowered buildings, it's door was unlocked and easy to force open. Ryder started sweeping the interior of the building with his omnitool's scanner while Harry observed the scattered paper and tools lying around the engineering office. He was having trouble differentiating what part of the mess was caused by the evacuation, and what was caused by scavengers afterwards. He turned towards the back of the building, observing the Pathfinder approach a dimmed console. A moment later, SAM connected into the system, and activated the colony's power at Ryder's command. As they headed back outside to regroup with the rest of the team, Harry decided that the office looked better dark. It hid the blood stains.

Harry looked up as he left the building, following the line of sight that he saw the rest of his team turned towards. He heard a low hum of a ships engines as it approached in the distance, the profile looking unfamiliar to him. The team channel activated at that moment, SAM's voice floating into everyone's helmets. "It looks like the kett have noticed the power emissions coming from the reactivation of the base. I'm detecting two incoming dropships matching the profiles of the ones observed at Habitat 7. I estimate contact in 75 seconds."

The team sprung into action, sprinting for the old colonial administration building. It's 2 stories and placement on a hill gave it the best fields of fire over the base while providing adequate cover. Harry found himself crouching behind a wall on a second story stairwell, hugging his rifle to his body. Vetra and Liam were perched above him on the roof, staring down the approaching ships with their sniper rifles. Scott and Cora had taken a spot closer to the action, hiding behind a stack of containers at the base of the building. "No one fire until I give the command" ordered the Pathfinder as they watched the dropships hover over the opposite side of the base, disgorging their occupants before taking off back in the direction they had come from. Harry noted to himself how the kett ran to cover immediately, then leapfrogged from building to building, some providing cover while others stormed the next location. He realized he wasn't dealing with amateurs like the civilians turned death eaters from back in the day.

He sighted down his rifle at the nearest kett, observing it as the alien took cover at the building next to their own. Scott whispered out some last minute instructions to his team. "Vetra, Liam, take out the kett providing support in the back. Cora and I will attack the front runners, so watch your fire. Harry, pick off the stragglers, but stay observant to your surroundings, you don't have a partner." Harry nodded to himself at the advice, putting a minor proximity ward up at the bottom of the stairs to let him know of anyone's approach. As the kett came into the open, approaching their building, Ryder's next order was given loudly. "Fire" he shouted as he cast a biotic shockwave at the closest kett, shooting its limp body as it flew through the air. He noticed a flash of light to his left as Cora flew by him in a biotic charge at a nearby kett, sending it flying back into the wall of the next building. The snipers' guns were firing at a steady rhythm as the back row of kett began to take loses.

Harry watched all of this from his cover, 5 kett dropping within a few seconds. His first burst of fire dropped the shields of the kett he was targeting, his second burst took the creature in the head. Harry watched as it flopped limply into the sand and stopped moving. It had been a long time since he had taken a life, and he found himself unsure of how he should feel. He expected there to be guilt, but was somewhat confused to only feel a sense of relief, mixed with a small bit of pride. He decided not to question why he wasn't having any mental issues, and proceeded to sight down at the next kett making a dash for the building.

The fight was quick and brutal, and Harry lost track of how many kett he took down. He had switched to his pistol a few minutes ago as he had ran out of ammo for his assault rifle. It seemed to take way too many shots to drop a shield before he could take out the enemy. He watched as Scott engaged two kett near his position with support from the others, unable to spot an enemy anywhere else. He frowned as he heard Liam speak up over the radio. "I've lost sight of the heavy. There is at least one unaccounted for kett still remaining."

Harry's blood ran cold as he felt his proximity ward go off. He turned his head to the left, seeing a 9 foot kett, wearing a full helmet and seeming to be made of solid muscles, slowly raising a heavy machine gun towards his direction. Harry reacted before his brain finished processing what it had seen, snapping off a blasting curse with his hand as he hurled himself off the stairwell into the air as the kett filled his previous location with a ludicrous amount of shots. Harry belly flopped into the sand, knocking the wind out of himself. He forced himself to his feet as he looked back up to his previous position, now occupied by the heavy kett who was trying to draw a bead on him. Harry retreated back around the side of the building, firing a shot from his pistol as he rounded the corner. He was able to see the round impact into the kett's shoulder, without a visible reaction from the alien. He realized that the enemy's shield was down and snuck a peek around the corner again. The kett had swung around to take Cora under fire where she and Ryder had taken cover, it's broad back exposed to the wizard. Harry took out his wand and cast an overpowered _petrificus totalus_ at the kett, causing it to freeze up and fall to the ground, it's gun crashing to the earth as it let go.

"Great job Harry!" Ryder shouted as he and Cora came out of thier cover and ran over to him. "What did you tag him with? It didn't look like anything would drop him." He kicked the kett in its side to punctuate his statement, jumping back when he realized the creature was still alive. "This is perfect" he muttered to himself as he pulled out his scanner. "SAM, lets get a full body scan of this one. The scientist while love the data." The creature was bathed in an orange light of the omnitool as it glared with impotent rage at it's captures.

"I didn't know what spells would work on him, so I tried a simple petrification. I'm not sure how long it'll last though" Harry explained as sweat dripped down his face from the stress of holding the spell. "This guy is powerful, and the bigger they are, the less effective it is. If you're going to do something, you should do it soon or he'll get loose." Harry loosened the spells hold on the kett enough for it to speak.

Ryder acknowledged Harry's warning as he carefully leaned over the kett. "Do you understand me?" he asked slowly and carefully. "Why are you fighting with us? We want to live in peace." The creature stayed silent as it stared up at Ryder, its features appeared to be filled with utter loathing. There would be no communication happening today. The Pathfinder sighed to himself as he stood back up to his full height. He noticed Harry's strain and came to a snap decision. He raised his pistol and shot the kett through the eye, ending it's life. Harry slumped as he finally relaxed. It had felt like he was trying to hold down someone Hagrid's size. Cora helped him stand back up straight, checking his suit for any damages. Vetra gave a small scowl at her, being beaten to Harry's side by the blonde.

Liam patted Ryder on the back in commiseration. "I would have loved to be peaceful with them just as much as you, but sometimes we just have to remember a key thing. Not every alien out there will be an asari. Some are going to be assholes." Ryder smiled at Liam's advice, agreeing with it.

The team returned to the administration building, evicting a scavenger who had taken up roost there. The man wanted nothing to do with the Pathfinder's team after he had a front row seat to them wiping out the local kett. The database there was damaged and fragmented, offering up bits and pieces of the history of the base's demise. On the plus side though, there was mention of a vehicle that the explorer teams used to traverse the planet still remaining in the base somewhere.

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Harry stared at the the Nomad, a 6 wheeled all terrain vehicle that looked like it could chew up mountains. He was impressed with its size and sleek build, but couldn't help but notice a glaring hole in the design. "Is there a reason I don't see any guns on this thing? Are they hidden away in compartments?" He slowly walked around the vehicle, looking for any sign of a death spewing device. "How the hell did it seem like a good idea to leave a ground team defenseless? Even our colonists back in the Milky Way had mako tanks."

"I asked SAM the same thing just now" said Ryder. "It turns out that my father wanted the Nomads armed for the pathfinders and their exploration teams, but was overruled by Jien Garson and the rest of the Initiative's board of directors. They thought it would send the wrong message to Andromeda's natives if we showed up armed to the teeth. Now stop bitching and get in the unarmed tank."

The team loaded into the Nomad, grabbing whatever seats were available. Harry found himself shoved in the cargo area in the back, seated against the wall. He had been the second one in the tank after Vetra, but hadn't been told about the importance of calling "shotgun" until after the fact. He cast a quick sticking charm to himself and the wall to stop from being thrown around. He could feel the engine roar to life underneath him as Ryder accelerated while announcing that their first destination was the nearest of the 3 alien monoliths towering in the distance.

The ride was smooth at the beginning, but soon took a turn for the worse as the Pathfinder had to dodge the local insect life. Insect life being basketball sized beetles that spewed acid and had no fear of things bigger than themselves. In the end, the easiest method of dealing with them was to simply grind them under the Tempest's tires. Scott grimaced at the mess being made on his new ride, but calmed down at Harry's reassurance that he would handle any damages.

They pulled up to the base of the monolith, parking along a shuttle that already sat there, it's occupant seemingly disappeared. Signs of the old expeditions' investigations of the alien technology still remained. The entire base was surrounded by atmospheric shields to protect the team from excessive radiation while they worked. There wasn't any signs of life, the entire area seeming abandoned. The team piled out of the monolith with Vetra and Liam spreading out to secure the area, while Scott and Cora made a beeline for the console in the center of the platform besides the monolith. Harry decided to walk the perimeter of the force fields, examining the equipment left behind by the other Milky Way investigators. He had almost gone in a full circle when he tripped over a lump in the sand. A quick wind charm cast with his hand pushed the sand away from the lump, revealing a boot from a hardsuit. A more powerful wind charm soon revealed the rest of a body, human, and beginning the first stages of mummification.

"Input Command" was heard faintly over the speakers in Harry's helmet. He stopped and listened, but didn't hear the strange voice again.

"Did one of you guys just say something?" Harry turned towards the platform, seeing all four of his team members crowded around the console now. The Pathfinder had his hand stretched over it, the fingers glowing orange indicating SAM was also actively participating as well. Harry caught movement out of the corner of his eye, but was unable to react in time as an asari tackled Ryder to the ground, sitting on his chest. The guns raised in her direction from the rest of the team stopped any further movements though. After a tense moment, Ryder signaled the team to stand down.

The asari let out a sigh of relief as she turned back to Ryder to continue their conversation. "I'm glad I stopped you. I don't know how you managed to interface with the system like that, but you need to let the glyphs cycle through their channels on their own. It's going to be alright. Trust me, OK?" she leaned forward with a smile, inadvertently giving Ryder a bit of a thrill.

Harry had decided to hang back during the conversation. He leaned back against one of the pillars surrounding the platform, enjoying the shade and laughing silently as he watched Ryder inadvertently get a lapdance. The asari pushed herself up off of the Pathfinder while introducing herself as PeeBee. She had theorized that if Ryder could activate the other 2 monoliths as well, then they could trace the signal to the control room for the entire system. As she finished up her theory, the Monolith had finally finished up its activation sequence. Lights all over it began to light up, as two beams shot out of it towards the other monoliths. The team was all smiles as they finally saw their work paying off.

Harry saw the first machine hover up behind Scott right after PeeBee. She already had her pistol lined up and took a shot while he was still unholstering his rifle. As it fell dead back to the ground, more machines began to appear around the platform. Some were fliers like the previous one, looking like an orb with a glowing eye, and octopus style tentacles coming out of the back of it. Other robots were more of a classic mech style, supported on two legs and not possessing any arms. They all had glowing spots on them though as they charged up their weapons.

The team reacted the moment they saw weapons being readied. Scott and Cora had immediately used biotic charges at two of the walkers, while Vetra and Liam had taken cover behind a blast shield and started firing at the flyers. PeeBee was casting biotic shockwaves at anything robotic that she could find. Harry wanted to go over and support his team, but found himself under fire from both a walker and flyer that had split off from the main force after detecting him. His shields had dropped almost immediately and he was forced to take cover behind the wall. He fired his assault rifle at the walker, causing its shields to flare, and drop. It backed itself up behind another wall, and moments later it spit a box out onto the ground in the open. It's purpose confused Harry until he saw it unfold itself into a lobster shaped flying robot that came straight at him, ignoring any damage he sent its way. Harry panicked at this point, and cast an immobulus at the lobster, stopping it inches from his face. He quickly banished it at the flying octopus orb that had been harassing him earlier. They collided, providing a nice explosion and ending any threat posed. He turned his attention back to the walker, only to find it in pieces. Vetra had turned her attention to it the moment she observed him being overwhelmed.

With the threat ended, the team began to regroup on the center of the platform. Harry picked himself up to join them, stopping to pick up the ID tag from body he had discovered before the attack. As he bent over the cadaver, he noticed a shadow forming over him. He turned around slowly to find one last observer flying less than a meter away from his head, weapon primed to fire. "State your designation" the robot demanded in a garbled voice.

Harry wasn't sure he understood it correctly, but figured he didn't have anything else to lose. "My name is Harry, and I'm an explorer" he said, knowing that needed to stall for time until the team noticed his situation.

"Neither 'Harry' or 'Explorer' are names allowed use of this facility. State your purpose for being here or you will be terminated" The machine was starting to sound agitated.

Harry tried to think up a plausible excuse for accessing the alien network, but couldn't think of anything that would save his skin. He flinched as the robot's gun began to glow from the power being built up. Thinking quickly, Harry cast a wandless lumos maxima at the machine's eye, then dropped to his belly in the sand and rolled to his right. The space he previously occupied was filled with a crisscross of bullets and energy weapons as his team used the opening to take down the machine.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief as he took a moment to stare up at the alien sky, it's yellow sun making him feel homesickness for the first real moment since he began his journey. He could hear feet hitting sand as his team rushed over to check on him. He pushed himself up off his back to a sitting position, waving at Scott as he lead the team over. "Thanks for the save. It snuck up on me before I could even notice it."

Ryder was shoved to the side before he could open his mouth. A blue blur sped by him, colliding with Harry's chest and sending him back into the sand again. Harry took a moment to clear his vision before looking up again only to see PeeBee perched on his chest, excitement clear on her face. "Did you just talk to that remnant!?" She absent mindedly wiped away a string of drool as she waited for the wizard's response. Harry gave a reluctant nod as he examined her position on top of him. He would be the first to admit to being slightly intimidated by the hungry look in the asari's eyes. "No one understands them. How the hell can you possibly tell what they're saying?"

"I don't know." Harry said as he started to squirm under her, trying to gain the leverage to push her off of him. The view was nice enough, but he didn't like the helpless feeling of being trapped under another person. "It asked me to state my designation, then threatened to shoot me for trespassing when I couldn't offer up anything." He finally succeeded in getting a shoulder out from under the asari's leg, pushing her to the side. He scrambled up to his feet, only to find her gripping his arm in hers as she stared up at him with an expression that could only be described as a cross between excitement, jealousy, and lust. He noticed Cora scowling at the asari while her hand crept back towards her shotgun, only to be stopped by a look from the Pathfinder. Vetra took a step towards Harry, letting out a subharmonic growl as her eyes narrowed at the invader of his personal space.

Liam nudged Ryder's shoulder, nodding at the byplay between the girls. Scott couldn't keep the grin off of his face as he finally was able to get Harry's attention away from PeeBee. "We didn't know if you were actually talking to it. All we heard was the remnant say something in a digital language, and you responded back to it by hissing at it. It was broadcast on all of our radios."

Harry facepalmed himself as he considered the implications of what Ryder had said. The only way he could possibly have understood that robot was if either it, or it's creators spoke in a serpent based language. His Parseltongue ability could let him talk to any serpent back on earth. He never expected to be a coding language though. "Let's just chalk it up under my 'strange abilities' and leave it at that." He gave Ryder a meaningful look before glancing quickly at PeeBee, who had yet to release his arm.

"Either way, this makes you my new best friend!" The asari was almost vibrating with excitement, endless theories and experiments dancing around in her head. She leaned up and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "I can't wait to see what we can do together!"

Harry hung his head, wishing yet again that memory charms worked on other species besides just humans. "At least it's better than a krogan" he thought to himself as he looked down at the asari with a death grip on his arm. Peebee smiled back at him. She just knew that he was looking forward to this as much as she was.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Guess who's coming to dinner

Harry cursed to himself as Ryder took another hard turn in the Nomad. The wizard was beginning to realize that he wasn't going to be getting out of the storage area anytime soon. He had called shotgun on the way back to the vehicle, only to get waylaid by PeeBee as she tried to get in a last few questions before she left for her shuttle. By the time he made it to the Nomad, all the seats were full again, with no one wanting to make eye contact with the wizard. Harry resignedly sat down in the back of the tank as Ryder floored it, causing him to slid to the back wall. He had tried sticking himself to the floor, only to realize the lack of shocks outside the crew area caused him to feel each bump that much worse. A few cushioning charms later made the ride more comfortable, though he was still thrown around with each turn. "Damn it Scott" Harry cried out as he bounced off of the ceiling again, "I know you're hitting those on purpose!".

"It's all in your head Harry, there's no roads on a new planet. It's going to be bumpy" Scott called over his shoulder with a huge grin on his face. A smirking Cora pointed out a particularly good jump to him that led to a ditch he needed to cross on the way to the second tower, causing him to make a hard right towards it. He hit the tank's afterburners as he neared the jump, the vehicle going airborne as it cleared the ditch with room to spare. Cora was perched over the back of her seat, omnitool set on recording as she watched Harry go into freefall for a moment at the jump's peak, in what felt like slow motion, before the ceiling slammed into him, bouncing him towards the back of the cargo hold.

Harry looked up from his crumpled position to see Scott, Cora, and Liam all laughing at his position, while Vetra offered him a sympathetic smile from over her shoulder. This was the last straw, Harry was tired of the hazing and it was time to strike back with a true marauder style. The wizard sent his turian friend a quick message, telling her to be silent, and not give him away. After a quick confirmation reply, he cast a silent bubblehead charm at her and himself. He waited a moment to make sure no one noticed, before casting sticking charms on his fellow humans helmets where they were stowed on the sides of their suits. As he silently prepared his final spell, SAM contacted him on his omnitool. "Mr. Potter, I'm detecting an energy build up in your area. Are you in need of assistance?"

"I'm good SAM," Harry whispered. "I'm just preparing a life lesson for my crewmates. Is there any way I can bribe you to disable Scott's scanner for a few minutes so he can't disable my magic, as well as keep their helmets magnetized? I'm willing to negotiate."

SAM was silent for a few seconds as he processed the strange request. "The crew won't be in any danger?" At Harry's confirmation, he went silent again. "I'm willing to agree if you will answer some further questions about your origins and powers at a later date."

"Deal!" Harry quickly agreed. At this point, he would be willing to sign his soul away for a quick piece of revenge. He cast his final spell at Cora and Liam's backs with no visible effect before he sat back with a smile. The crew had been lightly chatting before they were interrupted by incredibly loud gurgles coming from their stomachs. Ryder began to grow nervous as he watched his crew members subtly shift in their seats to try to relieve their discomfort. He swerved to avoid one of the acid insects, only to hit a pothole. The resulting bump in the cabin was followed with a loud "Brraaappp!" as Liam looked relieved for a moment, before his stomach began to gurgle again. Cora had a look of horror on her face as she watched the next unavoidable bump come up, before the resulting jarring caused her to let out an equally loud fart. Ryder couldn't stop himself from laughing, while Vetra watched the scene play out with amusement in her eyes and disgust on her face. A few bumps later though brought a new problem for the crew. The smell was becoming unbearable in the small cabin. Scott couldn't take it any longer and reached for his helmet, willing to sacrifice part of his air supply for a moment of fresh air. He let out a surprised exclamation as he realized he couldn't pull it off of his suit's magnetic attachment. He noticed Cora and Liam were in a similar situation. Looking at the camera pointing towards the back, he noticed Harry was sitting in the cargo bay sporting a huge smile with his head appearing to be encased in a bubble of some kind.

"Harry…" Scott said in a low voice, as he let the Nomad roll to a stop, "What did you do?" Everyone turned back towards the wizard, only to see him whistling to himself while he examined something on his omnitool.

"Sorry guys, I guess all of those bumps are messing with my magic." Harry couldn't look any more guilty if he tried. "But no worries, the effects should wear off by the time we reach the 2nd tower and exit the Nomad." Vetra was thanking the spirits that she hadn't gotten on the wizard's bad side. This came close to chemical warfare by some species' standards.

"Fuck this" Scott mumbled to himself as he pointed his omnitool at Cora and triggered the scanner, determined to end Harry's spell one way or the other. To his dismay, the tool went dead as if a circuit breaker had been tripped. "SAM, something's wrong with the scanner." Ryder was beginning to feel a little panic. "It looks like it's stuck running a diagnostic on itself. I need you to cancel it so I can run a quick scan."

"I'm sorry Scott, but I can't let you do that. Mr. Potter reminded me of the need for a good maintenance schedule on our equipment and requested that the omnitools be diagnosed now to be ready for the next stop. Stopping it now could have unintended consequences for your omnitool." SAM had the advantage of not needing to lie to play his part of the joke.

"Screw it, just go!" Cora reached across to Ryder and slammed her hand down on his right leg, causing the Nomad to leap forward. The three humans spent the next 10 minutes in misery watching the tower slowly grow closer. The air in the car had passed the point of being stale to where everyone had to hold their nose and breath through the mouth, only to realize they could taste the stench.

They parked the tank at the base of the hill, under an overhang of rock to hide it from the air. Harry let the others pile out of the Nomad first, before casually exiting while offering a hand to Ventra like the true gentleman he wasn't. He looked around to see everyone getting into mission mode as they walked towards the control pad at the base of the 2nd spire. It was elevated on the side of a cliff, offering a nice view of a large lake at the bottom of the valley. PeeBee's ship was parked close by, the asari already making her way over towards them. She stopped a few feet away from the crew as her omnitool flashed a warning. "That's strange…" she mumbled to herself before looking up. "I'm picking up trace amounts of methane in the area. We must be near a pocket." She missed the dirty looks the three crewman shot at their wizard ally before their professionalism kicked back in to complete the mission. "It looks like the security for the remaining towers was tripped when you activated the first one."

"It doesn't look like we're going to be avoiding a fight this time" Scott commented as he observed the security bots patrolling around the tower's interface at the top of the hill. He had just gathered the team together to figure out a plan of attack when SAM interrupted with a hurried warning. "Multiple kett dropships are inbound. 30 seconds to contact."

Everyone started scrambling for any cover the sparse hillside could supply. Harry shoved an unsuspecting Liam into the dirt before falling next to him. "Everyone pile up on Liam" he shouted as he began gathering magic for a spell. The crew followed his command without question, survival being the only priority on their minds. Liam gave a small grunt as the sudden weight on his back, feeling the pressure even through his hardsuit. With only seconds to spare, Harry cast a cooling charm on himself and the crew, then summoned a large amount of sand from the hillside.

"Harry" Liam wheezed from the bottom of the pile of people. "Why am I buried alive and freezing my balls off at the bottom of a dogpile?" He shifted, trying unsuccessfully to get Vetra's knee off the back of his neck. "I'd always pictured myself going out in a more dignified way if I'm about to be killed in an epic scrap."

"The cooling charm hides us from thermal detection, and the sand makes us look just like another sand pile" Harry answered back. "I'm trying to hide us long enough for those creepy bastards to make the mistake of getting too close." He elbowed the sheepish crew member in the side, before sliding his omnitool slowly out of the pile while activating the camera function and beaming it's feed to everyone's helmets. "Now shut the hell up, they're trying to trace our comm traffic." The kett dropships stopped circling overhead, slowly starting to descend towards the team's hiding spot. Just when panic began to set in on the team, an energy beam from the top of the hill lanced into the cockpit of the lead dropship. The ship shuddered in the air of a moment as smoke poured out of the ruined cockpit before it pitched to the side and crashed halfway up the hill. Surviving kett crawled from the wreckage, some sporting obviously injuries while the other two dropships lowered to land assistance. At that moment, the survivors we're set upon by the robots guarding the remnant monolith.

The team viewed the ensuing firefight from the safety of their sand dune, unwilling to venture out until the violence died down. Finally after a full five minutes of carnage, only a few kett remained standing. The robots had been smashed to unrecognizable bits while the rest of the kett bled out on the ground, their dropships burning in the distance. The team rose out of the mound together, everyone firing at once sending a wave of bullets towards the shell shocked kett. The aliens weren't even given a chance to return fire before being mowed down. "Great job guys!" congratulated the Pathfinder as he led his team up the hill to the remnant interface. "Two different sets of bad guys down and we never even had a shot fired in our direction. That's how we're going to win here." He was ecstatic as he raised his hand over the remnant command node, allowing SAM to interface with it. It felt like his karma was finally balancing out after the disastrous start to the entire journey.

SAM brought him down to earth a moment later with the results of his scan. "It appears that an actual security system was activated as well as the guards after you brought the last pylon on line. I am unable to access the system due to there being two missing glyphs needed for the cypher to unlock the security. Please search the local area to see if you can find anything."

"Nothing's ever that easy" Ryder mumbled as he turned on the scanner on his omnitool. Everyone spread out as they began to search for any sign of the glyphs SAM had mentioned.

Harry was wondering by the foot of an alien building when he felt a small magical presence a few feet above his head. He didn't see anything besides the normal alien architecture, but closing his eyes allowed him to feel what almost sounded like a mild back ground static at the edge of is senses. It was so faint that he almost questioned whether his mind was playing tricks on him. "Scott"he called over the Pathfinder, indicating the wall. "Do me a favor and scan over here" he indicated above himself. The Pathfinder's scanner revealed an alien symbol, its strange shape making no sense to any of them.

"I wonder what that is" Vetra said, indicating to what looked to be a power node highlighted by the scanner that ran from the glyph off into the building. Scott traced the cable as it wrapped around the wall, passing under the sand, and ending in the control console on the central platform. This showed a second cable going off in the opposite direction. A curious sight of 6 beings clumped together in a tight grouping could be seen following the newly revealed clue to the base of a small tower. The cable disappearing towards the top of it.

"Damn." Scott cursed as he looked up the height of tower. "I don't think my jump jets can boost me that …" His shoulder was grabbed roughly by Harry before they both disappeared with a loud crack, appearing a split second later at the roof of the tower. The Pathfinder sank to his knees as he felt his stomach rebel against the sudden displacement. "What the hell did I tell you about teleporting away before we finished discussing the plan!?" He punched Harry in the thigh, causing the wizard to fall on his ass next to him as his leg muscle seized up.

"I'm sorry! I felt we could kill two birds with one stone" the wizard pleaded as he indicated towards the ground with his hand. "You needed a way up here, and I needed to get away from that blue stalker before she latched on to me again. It was a win\win."

SAM interrupted the pending argument before it could really take off. "I've finished scanning the second glyph during your discussion on tactics. Please return to the platform so we can interface with the control panel again."

Ryder batted the wizard's hand away as he reached over to grab him. "Don't even think about it. I'm not puking in this helmet if I can help it." He jumped off of the roof, hitting his boosters at the last second and landing softly a foot from the console. He smirked up towards the roof at the wizard, hoping that he saw the minor display of skill. His face fell as Harry held up a conjured card, a large black "7" clearly displayed on it. A clearing of the throat caused him to turn around, showing the other two humans holding a "6" and an "8" respectively.

Cora shrugged as she dropped her card, aware of her leader's stare. "You had style, but I've seen better." She indicated to the wizard that was currently floating softly to the ground with his arms held out at his sides. Liam gave his boss a commiserating pat on the shoulder.

Vetra nudged PeeBee, breaking the asari out of the trance she was currently in watching her favorite human use his mysterious powers. "Do you know what the numbers mean?" she asked, indicating the cards the wizard had made.

The asari shook her head, having never seen the phenomena before. "Going by what I know of alien cultures, I'm guessing it's some ritual the humans use to establish dominance. I think Harry is winning" she said with a nod to herself, unaware of Liam nearly choking as he held in his laughter at her analysis.

The Pathfinder turned back to the console, activating the tower and sending a second beam of light out to intersect the already existing one. "Common, let's get back to the tank." He paused for a second, before turning towards the wizard who was bringing up the back of the procession. "Harry, ride with PeeBee in her shuttle for this trip. I'm sure she has plenty to ask you about." He watched as the wizard stopped dead, his head turning woodenly towards the Pathfinder as he processed the order. Before the wizard could so much as blink, he was sent back into the dirt as the asari tackled him from behind with a squeal, unable to hold in her happiness at getting her alone time with Harry. Ryder smirked to himself the whole way back to the tank. 'Revenge is sweet' he reflected to himself as he climbed into the driver's side of the vehicle and closed the hatch.

"You didn't plan that one through enough there mate" he heard Liam whisper to him from the front passenger seat as he took his helmet off and strapped himself in. All of a sudden, Ryder could feel the oppressive atmosphere in the tank as the silence became overwhelming. If he had gotten the willpower to look back, he would have seen the glares from the two females directed at the back of his head.

'Better make this a quick trip' he reflected to himself as he ran down the safety checklist as fast as possible. Movement outside caught his attention, bringing his view up to look out the front window. PeeBee walked by with a huge smile on her face and a little extra pep in her step. She was wreathed in biotics, holding Harry by his ankle and dragging him with little apparent effort towards her shuttle as the wizard clawed helplessly at the sand, desperate to stop his abduction. Feeling their eyes on her, the asari turned towards the tank, giving a wide grin and holding up her hand in a peace sign, before dragging the wizard into her ship and closing the ramp. Ryder paused as he reached up to start the tank, detecting a low grinding, screeching sound coming from somewhere near by. "SAM" he asked on a private channel. "Are you detecting that noise? Is there something wrong with the Nomad?"

"The tank is functioning normally Pathfinder" assured the AI. "The noise you are detecting is Ms. Harper grinding her teeth as well as Ms. Nyx's talons carving into the metal armrests." Harry could be seen looking forlornly out of the cockpit window as the shuttle slowly took off ahead of them, his companion talking a mile a minute. The Pathfinder could feel the stares burning a hole through him now. He threw the tank into gear as he floored the accelerator, determined to make the trip to the final tower as short as possible.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I know you keep saying that you can't read their writing, but there has to be another solution. Maybe we can have a remnant read off the symbols to you, and you can translate them to basic. If we can develope a type of rosetta stone for their language, then we won't need Ryder's AI to interact with their technologies! What do you think? I'm so excited!" Harry rolled his eyes as he watched the terrain slowly crawl by below them. PeeBee had kept up a running commentary for the last thirty minutes as they had flown through the alien sky. The asari was beginning to remind him of a squirrel, she was constantly on the move and unable to last more than a few minutes without feeling the need to fill the silence with conversation. He had attempted a wandless _silencio,_ causing her to cross her eyes in surprise as she tried to look at her own mouth to discern what was wrong. A quick flare of her biotics a moment later had disrupted his spell and given her even more things to question him about.

Harry briefly considered using a muffliato charm on himself, willfully impairing hi own hearing just to tune her out for the remainder of the trip. In the end though, he decided against showing any more of his abilities then was absolutely necessary to "his new best friend." He sighed as he looked out the cockpit window at the ground below. He could see the Nomad in the distance, bouncing along the sand dunes as it raced to the arranged landing spot near the final pylon. 'I wonder what has them in such a hurry?' he thought to himself before turning his head back to look at the asari next to him. 'Can't deny it' he thought to himself as he studied her face, 'she is kind of cute when she's excited.' This unfortunately didn't help him with his current noise problem, causing him to take the next step. "Look Blue" he said, bringing her monologue to a screaming halt as she stared at him with wide eyes. "Let's make a deal so we both can get something out of this."

"Blue? Why would you call me something like that?" She stuttered, unable to meet his eyes with her own. She had received plenty of nickname over her young life due to her eccentric nature, but never one so soon or so intimate before. It was at that moment that her mind caught back up with the rest of what he had said. "And what do you mean by a deal?"

Harry chuckled quietly to himself, loving how cute she looked flustered. He wasn't sure what exactly had embarrassed her, but knew that he was going to keep using that name if that was the reaction it garnered. "It's simple really" he offered a small smile to her, increasing her flustered movements. "I know you have plenty to ask me, but odds are we're going to be in combat again soon after we land again. I need to clear my head and center myself on what's to come so let's make a deal. You're coming with us after we're done on this world correct?" At her frantic nod he continued, "Then how about after you get settled on the ship we set some time aside to just talk. If we're going to be shipmates and friends then I'd like to get to know about you as well."

"It's a deal!" she exclaimed. She couldn't believe her luck today. The human didn't look half bad she thought while smiling internally. It was just a bonus that he obviously felt the same way with how he referred to her. She may act like she was only focused on the remnant, but her mind was always tackling multiple issues from finding the perfect mate to simply how she was going to live day to day. It was just easier to have the people around her always underestimating her capabilities. "I'll be quiet now" she said, turning towards her controls again. "Oh, just one small thing" she said, the amused tone in her voice gaining his attention. "We'll be landing in five minutes." She couldn't hold in her laughter as she watched him smack his head against the console in frustration. She paused as she caught him looking at her again with a soft smile on his features.

Harry watched her expertly land the shuttle, barely feeling any disturbance as it settled on the ground. Her laughter was soft with a musical tint to it that drew his attention back towards her features. He couldn't even be angry with her considering how masterfully she had conned him into getting his promise of one-on-one time in the future. He mentally tipped his hat towards someone he acknowledged as a fellow prankster, making a mental note to watch out for her in the future. As he climbed out of the shuttle, he looked back at her, meeting her eyes. "You're alright Blue." He chuckled to himself as she flushed again, unable to help herself. He scanned the surrounding hills, unable to find any threats before leaning back against the shuttle's hull and watching the Nomad approach in the distance. He felt PeeBee settle next to him as the pulled up, the asari using his shoulder as a pillow. Harry's danger sense flickered, causing him to scan the surroundings again. He had learned to trust his instincts over his life, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out where the threat was. Scott and Liam jumped out of the tank, walking over to join the group. "Where are the girls?" Harry asked, looking over their shoulders.

Scott indicated back at the tank, rolling his eyes. "They said they had something to discuss and needed some privacy. Harry, can you go take a look at the back of the tank? We ran over one of those acid bugs coming up the hill, and something is clanking back there that didn't before." At the wizards nod, he continued "Liam and I will go scout ahead. We'll meet back here in five minutes." He patted Harry's shoulder as the wizard passed them on his way to the tank, before they set off to the top of the sand dune between them and the approach to the Pylon. The wizard knocked on the tanks window as he walked by, bringing his two crewmates out of a heated discussion momentarily as they stopped to smile and wave at him before he continued on to the back. He spotted the problem almost immediately after crawling under the Nomad's rear axles. The bug's acid had eaten away at the protective housing for most of the hoses and wires that ran under the vehicle, causing them to swing loose and in one case, break apart. He noticed two pairs of feet climb out of the tank as he started casting repairo charms, his attention quickly returning to his work as they calmly walked away.

Pulling himself up from the sand, he felt his omnitool vibrate with a new message. Seeing it was from Scott, he opened it right away. " _Harry, don't come around the tank. There's a conversation happening that I don't think you want any part of. Liam and I are on the top of the hill behind them. Come over to us and let's make a plan of attack."_ Blinking in confusion, Harry leaned out from the back of the tank enough to see the three girls starting what looked to be a heated verbal confrontation, though he was surprised to see biotics beginning to wisp up off of the human and the asari. He opened up his omnitool in a panic, frantically typing " _How am I supposed to get over to you? They're right in the way!"_ He watched the Pathfinder read the message, before he held his arm out for Liam to see it too. They both looked back at the wizard for a moment in silence before Scott sent a return message. " _You're a wizard aren't you? Use your damn magic dumbass…"_ Harry paused as the message sank in before smacking himself in the head. He cast a quick disillusionment charm on himself, before apparating over to his fellow men. "Sorry" he said as he dropped the invisibility, "There isn't many things left in the universe that make me panic, but that's still one of them."

Liam nodded in agreement. "No worries, we felt the same way. It's why we're hiding up here after all. Sometimes it's just better to let them work it out themselves. My dad taught me that lesson back when my mom and sisters used to get into it. We would make ourselves scarce and go watch Manchester United tear up some poor bastards on the field. I hope everything turned out ok for them back on Earth..." he trailed off, trying not to think about what he left behind.

"Couldn't agree more" Ryder said with a shiver at memories brought to the surface. "My dad was an N7 and still knew better than to stay around when mom and my sister Sara were fighting. We would hide in the den until the noise died down, then perform recon to make sure we were safe." He smiled at the one of the few fond memories he had with his father growing up.

The 'discussion' between the girls seemed to be finishing up, causing the men to relax at the safe resolution. "What was the word on Sara?" Liam asked, turning towards Ryder. "We never found out what her status was. We've been on the go constantly since Habitat 7."

Scott shrugged his shoulder, his frustration plain to see in his expression. "The last note I had from the cryo bay doctors was that she was out of her pod, but unable to wake up. She's pretty much stuck in a coma until she's is ready to wake up on her own. I can't say I'm in a rush to tell her the bad news about dad and our mission yet." He paused, looking over at Harry for a moment. "Harry, do you know how to wake up a coma patient?" he asked with a little hope in his voice.

The wizard shrugged as he thought about some of the books he had read in the past on the subject. "There's ways to do it, but I'm not a medical expert. Ask me again when we're back on the ship and I'll see what I can find out about it. Hello ladies" he greeted the rest of the team as they laid down on the dune in the spaces open between the men.

Ryder cast a quick look at the female half of the group making sure he had all of their attention. "That's the last time I let something like that happen during a mission. I'm giving you the trust to hash out your problems like adults, but you'll be doing it on the ship from now on, not in the field. Is that understood?" With a salute from an embarrassed Cora, and nods of acknowledgement from PeeBee and Vetra, he dropped the subject and indicated the top of the sand dune, prompting everyone to peek over the top. "As you can see, the kett have set up a base camp around the route up to our objective. We're going to need to clear out the base so our backs aren't exposed when we activate the last pylon. The good news is that it looks like the kett already cleared out the remnant so we won't be facing two different battles." He took another look at the approach, noting how it split into two different paths that came back together at the command post farther up the route. "That command post is our first objective. We need to take it quickly to hopefully stop them from calling in reinforcements. We have enough people to split into two groups and hit both sides at once. This should stop them from being able to reinforce either side quickly enough to hold us up. Vetra and Harry are going up the right side with me."

The wizard held his fist out to the confused turian, prompting her to mimic the gesture. Once she did, he lightly hit her fist with his own. "It's a gesture of good luck where I'm from" he explained with a wink before turning his attention back to the Pathfinder and offering his fist up to him. The turian cocked her head, before tentatively holding her fist out to Scott as well, prompting him to grin before giving them both a fist tap. Liam getting into the moment and sporting a huge grin, held his fists up to Cora and PeeBee as well. The asari excitedly returned the gesture, while the human rolled her eyes before hitting his fist with her own. Unfortunately she used a little too much power, sending the poor man off balance and causing him to roll down the sand dune. Scott took the moment to continue his orders as Liam made his way back up the hill while shaking out the numbness in his hand. "Cora, you're leading the second team. Take Liam and PeeBee up the left side and don't stop for anything until we meet you in the command post. This whole attack hinges on the surprise factor." He pulled out his shotgun, and powered on an incendiary mod before pausing as a thought struck him. "Be sure to watch out for those dogs too. The damn things turn invisible and almost took a bite out of me on the last planet. I can see one on top of the command post from here."

"Are the dogs shielded?" Harry asked as he looked at the animal and the two kett to its side from his hiding spot. At the negative answer, he offered up "Let me know when we're all ready to attack and I'll take care of it." He cycled through different magical options in his head. Most of his attack spells left some kind of light trail, showing the direction they had came from. He did have on option though… he thought with an evil smirk. "Someone lend me an explosive." He held out his hand, only to have Liam give him a high explosive grenade a moment later. "Just say when" he told the Pathfinder.

"Everyone ready?" Ryder asked, receiving confirmation from his crew. "Do it Harry!" He began sprinting down the hillside, his crew members minus the wizard trailing behind him. Harry took a moment to activate the grenade's five second timer before counting to three and banishing it in the dogs direction with an overpowered charm. The explosive smacked into the dog's head, stunning it with the force of the hit. One of the guards turned at the sound, looking down as he felt the explosive roll to a stop against his foot. The kett opened his mouth to shout out an alert as he moved to dive away, only to be swallowed up by the ensuing explosion with the other two on the roof. The blast attracted the attention of the rest of the guards, allowing the Pathfinder's charge to reach the foot of the rap before they were even noticed. Scott biotically charged into the first kett, sending it flying over the edge of the cliff before opening up on the next two with his shotgun, forcing them to fall behind over. They popped back up upon his reload, only for Harry to apparate in next to him. The wizard sent a blasting hex at the first alien, destroying his shield and bowling him over. He opened up with the full clip of his assault rifle at the second kett, bringing down his shields and allowing Vetra to drop it with a head shot from her sniper rifle. Scott vaulted the barrier between them and the downed alien, forgoing his shotgun and stabbing the alien in the head with a flash-forged blade from his omnitool. He took a moment to glance to the left ramp just in time to see Cora send a biotic shockwave into the two kett trapped in PeeBee's singularity. The ensuing explosion sent bits of kett so far into the air that the landed over on his platform.

A sharp hissing sound caused him to look up at the command post. The doors to both ramps had opened and proceeded to let out two large, heavily armored kett who proceeded to lift their machine guns in preparation to fire. Cora's team dived for cover behind a set of barriers, but Scott and his group were trapped in the middle of an open ramp making a perfect kill zone for their enemy. His shoulder was clipped by the wizard as he hurtled past him up the ramp. "I've got this one" Harry called back as he continued to run, "Go help the others!" He made it to the lip of the ramp, finally able to see the portion that the kett occupied. His shields flared as the first bullets hit it, but the he refused to flinch. Harry used the time his shields bought him to point his wand at the floor under the kett and cast a quick vanishing charm. The alien didn't have a chance to realize what had happened before it plummeted feet first down into the canyon below itself. Harry watched as the other kett was chewed up in a murderous crossfire between his five crewmates.

With the threat finally over, he transfigured the ground to close up the gap and positioned himself at the right of the door. He watched Vetra press up opposite to himself, before Ryder stacked up behind her. "Cora" he called, "are you ready? Everyone watch for friendlies." He looked at two his team mates, before signaling that he would go first, followed by Harry and then Vetra. "Ok, three, two, one… Breach!" He charged in, only to see his second in command in the other doorway. It looked like the kett had all poured out of the room to try to stop them already.

A tapping sound at the glass wall window separating the room from the rest of the building prompted them all to stare at it. All of a sudden, one of the kett dog-like creatures was hurled through the window, causing it to shatter. The alien stumbled to its feet for a moment before pitching over on its side, a giant dagger could be seen sticking out of the back of its skull. It was followed momentarily later by a giant krogan climbing through the window after it. The krogan put his foot on the dog, before yanking out the knife and slotting it into a holder on his leg.

His immediate goal of killing all threats accomplished, the krogan moved on to the second goal of establishing dominance over everyone in the vicinity. Staring at the six individuals arrayed around the room, only two were able to hold eye contact with him for more than a few seconds. Targets acquired, he moved to the obvious leader of the group, invading the red headed human's personal space. "Who are you?" the krogan demanded, wanting to know who he was addressing. He could venture a guess from the his observations of the human's companions, but figured it was better to be safe than sorry. He shook his head at the unkrogan like thought; 'Kesh must be rubbing off on me.'

Ryder would be the first to admit he didn't have much experience with krogan aside from dealings with the occasional mercenary and a very one sided bar fight. He did know though that a sure fire way to break the ice with any of the reptilian race was to compliment any act of violence. "That was pretty cool" he offered up, gesturing to the dead kett dog.

Drack paused for a moment. This human wasn't sticking to the normal script of either posturing or cowering towards someone bigger than it. "Huh. Well, yeah… I guess it was" he offered up a second later, thrown off his game plan. He recovered well enough though, leaning in and grabbing the human's collar to pull him closer. "Still haven't told me who you are though" he leered at the other humans as they reacted to his aggressive move. The female and dark skinned male both took a step forward before stopping as his eyes swept over them, unsure as to what action should be taken with their leader still acting calmly. The smaller male though… Drack observed as the human slowly maneuvered into a position that offered an open line of sight to him while still keeping a calm posture as if nothing was happening. 'I like this one' he thought to himself, 'He's dangerous.'

His fun was ruined a moment later though as the familiar turian spoke up. "Oh come on Drack" Vetra said in exasperation. "Stop that." He didn't plan on letting go of control of the situation quite yet though, deciding to challenge her on why she was with the humans. She rolled her eyes, catching on to his game but refusing to play it. She did offer him a bone though. "I'm with the Pathfinder" she said, nodding her head towards the human he still held in his claw. "That Pathfinder."

Getting the confirmation he wanted for who he was dealing with the released the human, giving him a light push and making him stumble back to his group. It gave the human a feeling of safety to be back with his crew and help calm him down, while providing Drack with a little space to react if the conversation went south now that he had given up his hostage. "Any friend of Vetra is a friend of mine" he said in a peace offering.

The Pathfinder recovered quickly enough, taking a step forward while maintaining eye contact. "You can call me Ryder" he said. Drack noticed the others begin to calm down, lowering their guard a little as the tension began to drop. The shorter male though still maintained his position to Dracks silent approval, though his attention seemed to be focused more on the outside now. Considering they were occupying an enemy base at the moment, the krogan couldn't find any fault with his reasoning.

"I'm Drack, clan Nakmor." He moved towards the back windows checking that the back of the base was still clear of threats, confident that the shorter human had the front covered. "You'll forgive me if I didn't just trust a stranger from the Nexus" he continued. "They haven't exactly treated us krogan well." No one disputed his claim, earning even more points in his book over the rest of the humans he had met in Andromeda. He half listened as the Pathfinder described their mission, taking the moment to remove one of the dog's teeth for a future trophy. When Vetra tried to recruit him though, he had to turn the offer down despite his like for the turian. "Tempting as that is Vetra, I'm a little old to be carrying humans through a fight."

He was interrupted from the rest of his short speech though as the competent human scoffed at him. "Not bloody likely you fossil. We'd most likely be carrying your old arse through the fight the first time you blow out a hip trying to take cover." The other humans slowly turned and looked at him with varying expressions of disbelief, unable to comprehend why he would purposely antagonize the krogan.

Drack just chuckled, unable to believe the quad that the little human was showing in challenging him. "I'm getting bored and the kett are getting stronger. I'm heading out to go kill some more. Try not to get killed too early on with that crappy Nexus gear." As he moved towards the door, they all heard the approaching whine of kett dropships. "You take the back, I'll clear out the front for you before I move on." Without waiting for a reply he stomped out the door to watch a single dropship begin to disgorge its occupants. The door behind him hissed open again, before shutting just as quickly. "I thought I said I didn't need any help out here" he growled as he prepared his shotgun, activating the omni blade bayonet at the front of it.

"It's a good thing I don't plan on helping then isn't it?" The accent immediately gave away that the competent human had followed him out. "My only orders are to watch my team's back, so I'll just let you handle these bastards, and anything that gets past you becomes my problem. Case in point…" He pulled out his pistol and fired three rapid shots, causing one of the kett's dogs to decloak as it fell dead a foot away from him. He banished the body back at the hovering dropship, hitting the cockpit with enough force to spiderweb the cover. The dropship wobbled in midair, before clumsily turning and slowly making it's way out of range back over the hills. "Better step up your game old man" he said with a grin as he pointed back at the rest of the kett coming up the ramp.

"Heh" Drack chuckled under his breath as he lowered his center of gravity, watching the kett close in. "Watch and learn runt." With a roar, he took off down the ramp. The first kett was shoulder checked to the ground before suffering the indignity of having its life ended by being trampled by the krogan. The second kett had its neck broken by an uppercut, it's exoskeleton unable to withstand the force generated from Drack. The third kett received a bayonet to the face, it's shots doing nothing to drop the krogan's barrier. The other dog was toe punted off the side of the walkway as it missed it's lunge for Drack's ankle. The penultimate kett was knocked out with a straight right to the face, his body being picked up and used as a shield by the krogan as he absorbed the bullets from the kett heavy that had stayed back and opened fire with his machine gun. As he neared his final opponent, Drack threw the chewed up body at him, causing the kett to sidestep and giving him the opportunity to finish closing the distance. It took just a single shot from the krogan's claymore shotgun to drop the kett's shields and a bayonet to the face finished off the threat entirely.

Drack calmed his breathing as he noticed that there weren't any more enemies. He heard clapping, turning to see the human giving him a standing ovation. "That was fucking beautiful" the human complimented him, "I've never seen an ass kicking laid out so easily before. I take back everything old man. You're still the gold standard." An explosion went off behind the building, highlighting that the fight was still on for the other group. "And with that, I bid you adieu." He bowed to the krogan before using his jump jets to land on the roof of the command post and move towards the back.

"Damn" the krogan muttered to himself as he began trekking down the canyon entrance back to where he had his vehicle stashed in a small cave. "Now I almost want to go with them just to watch the runt fight some more." He took out his shotgun, firing a single round to his right without even turning his head. A death scream from one of those damn acid beetles confirmed that his aim had been true. "I bet he's going to have all the damn fun on this planet" he muttered bitterly to himself as he trudged on. Maybe he'd get lucky and find another kett outpost to sack.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Magic can't fix everything

Harry peeked his head over the roof of the command post, watching his five crewmates battle it out with an equal amount of kett The alien bodies littering the ground was proof that they had more than held their own up until now. Unfortunately this meant that the only ones left alive were the elite of the attack group. Three heavy kett with their armor and heavy machine guns stood brazenly out in the open, laying down a murderous amount of covering fire. He spotted two more kett taking cover behind a barrier at the foot of the ramp. These seemed different than the kett he had seen so far. They had more armor than the standard kett trooper, but were still built for speed and wielded some kind of energy shotgun. His eyebrows flew up his head in alarm as he watched one of them activate a cloak, before trying to maneuver around the barrier, only to be drive back again by a wild shot from Liam that disrupted the invisibility field.

Harry frowned in concentration, trying to consider where he could do the most damage with his first attack. He spotted a remnant pillar coming out of the sand that had already been damaged from a previous battle. The pillar had taken an explosion in the middle of it, causing half of it to crumble away and leaving the upper end of it to tilt precariously, only balanced enough to stay upright by a loose chunk crushed between the lower and upper halves. The three heavies had taken up position directly in the shade below it, uncaring of the danger above them. With a grin, Harry cast an accio at the car sized chunk of rock, moving it around in it's space but unable to dislodge it. Frowning, he poured all his available magical power into the next accio, this time pulling the rock from its home and sending it hurtling straight at him. Unable to muster any magic to stop the rocks momentum, Harry hurled himself from the roof, hitting the ramp and rolling forward to the cover that the rest of the team was using. The flying rock slammed into the side of the command post he was just at, demolishing the building. With a loud creak and a snap, the unsupported upper half of the pillar broke loose and plummeted to the ground, utterly crushing the three kett beneath it. The crash shook the earth, throwing both parties off their feet and sending up a dust cloud to temporarily reduce everyone's visibility. Ryder turned his head towards Harry, indicating where the last two kett where hiding. "Can you do anything about their hiding spot?" At the wizard's thumbs up, he faced forward again. "Vetra, Cora, give Harry some covering fire. After he casts his spell, we all open fire. Don't stop until I say so." At the team's confirmations, he signaled the two ladies "Go!" Harry counted to three, before rising up and vanishing the barrier that the kett hid behind. The two aliens stared bewilderedly at the empty space in front of them, one going so far as to reach out and feel the open air where their cover used to be. The fireteam used their enemy's distraction to mow them down with a variety of weapons and biotics. The ensuing explosion ensured that there wasn't enough of the kett's bodies left for Ryder to be able to scan, much to his chagrin.

"Good job everyone" Ryder said as he walked down the ramp, signalling for his team to join up. "Let's go get that last pylon operational before the kett send anyone else. I want Cora, Liam, PeeBee and Vetra forming a perimeter around the plateau up there. Try not to engage if you spot a threat, I want a warning so we can bring all our firepower to bear. Harry, you're with me and SAM on the console. Let's move people." The broke out in a light run, weary of combat and eager to finish their current mission. The Pathfinder and Harry climbed to the top of the alien structure, Scott enabling the scanner on his omnitool to allow SAM to interact with the control console.

SAM's appeared to rain down from Ryder's omnitool in light particles to land on the alien machine as he interacted with it. "All of the needed glyphs are already available this time." the AI informed the two men. "Unfortunately it looks as though previous hacking attempts, from presumably the kett, have damaged the normal controls for the pylon. I will attempt to reroute through the available subsystems." The AI returned to softly glowing as it began its next moves.

Harry had been only half listening as he stared at the glyphs on the console, trying to make heads or tails of the alien symbols. As his brain came back to the outside world, he began to hear a low machine static noise coming from the remnant machine. He leaned down to the base, pressing the side of his helmet to a damaged speaker below the actual console. He could barely make out a faint message. " _Unau******** **tected. Unable to blo*** **ck attempt. Initiat*** **cal countermeasures in 10 microcycles._ " Harry shot up ramrod straight, eyes shooting to the console only to find it now bathed in a red light that screamed danger to him. "Scott..." he said in a warning tone, "You need to pull SAM and back up now…" The Pathfinder shot looked over his shoulder at the wizard, alarmed to see the him backing away quickly with panicked eyes. Ryder turned off his omnitool, jumping off of the platform a split second after Harry, the world turning white for a second behind him as the platform overloaded itself, setting off a brief but violent explosion.

"Is everything alright?!" Cora asked, running up to the two men as they slowly pushed themselves upright. "We all heard the explosion."

"Yeah, we're all good here." mumbled the wizard, still somewhat in a daze from the shockwave. "SAM tripped the console's security when he tried to hack into it. I heard the audio warning in time." He looked to the Pathfinder, watching him brush sand off of his suit distractedly as he gazed at the smoking ruin of alien tech. "You know that thing was flashing angry red before it exploded. I don't know what they teach in the Alliance, but where I come from **Red** means **DANGER**." The rest of the team had joined them at this point, curiosity in the explosion and the status of their teammates overriding their previous orders in importance.

Ryder waved the wizard's words away, watching as the tower began to light up. "Good job SAM" he complimented the hidden member of their team. A beam flashed out of the top of the alien pylon, intersecting with the other two over the eastern side of the lake at the bottom of the valley. The team watched on in stunned silence as an entire island raised itself out of the lake below the intersection of the beams. "Looks like we have our next destination figured out" Scott said with smile as he motioned his team to follow him back to their vehicles. "PeeBee, can you send your ship into orbit on autopilot? I want all of us traveling together for this next part." The asari ran off towards her shuttle, working quickly to get her temporary home to a safe location off the planet before rejoining the crew as they approached the Nomad.

Ryder veered off to the driver's side of the tank, before coming to a halt mid way as he noticed a silence had taken over. Turning around, he found the rest of his team had stopped about 20 meters back, all of them gathered in a circle and staring at each other as they waited for PeeBee to return. The asari sprinted back, stopping between Harry and Liam while looking around confused at the strange behavior of her crewmates. Cora cleared her throat, gathering everyone's attention. "Anyone not interested in getting shotgun take two steps back now." PeeBee didn't know what the importance of getting a random weapon was, but knew it was always better to have a surplus for trading later on. She would win this shotgun, even if it meant beating her new boyfriend. She sighed while looking over at Harry, causing the wizard to inch away from her towards Liam. Maybe she could trade the weapon to Harry for a date when they returned to the Nexus.

Cora waited for the asari to get her head back in the game, growing more agitated the longer it took. Vetra took the initiative, flicking a pebble she had picked up off of the asari's helmet, causing her to turn back around. "Now that we're all back again" she said, causing PeeBee to duck her head in embarrassment, "the rules are simple. Just saying 'Shotgun' doesn't guarantee you the front passenger side seat." She ignored the asari's confused hand in the air, 'She'll figure it out soon enough'. "It's first come, first serve. You get there before the others, you get to sit there. Is everyone ready?" At the nods from everyone, she tensed up. "We go at the Pathfinder's signal."

Scott sighed to himself. His team had wayyyyy too many quirks to be normal. He never remembered his father describing anything like this in his old war stories. He raised his gun up, firing a single shot into the sky. A soft *Crack* diverted his attention to the his left, showing Harry leaning against the tank next to him. Harry tapped the tank with his hand in response to the inquisitive eyebrow from the pathfinder, "I win." He turned back towards the rest of the struggling crew, his sudden burst of laughter prompting Ryder to see what was so funny. "You want to place any bets on who the winner will be?" asked the wizard, his humor carrying over in his voice.

The purpose of gaining the front seat of the tank had all but been forgotten by the three ladies as their competitiveness kicked into high gear. Cora and PeeBee were deadlocked, grappling against each other with their biotics flaring as they tried to overpower their opponent. Vetra was farther back, attempting to find a way to close the distance with her rivals. Every time she would move in, one of the two would send a biotic push her way, driving her back into the sand dunes. Scott simply began recording on his omnitool, not bothering to say a word. This would be exhibit A in his team's after action review meeting back aboard the ship later on. 'This can't keep happening' he thought to himself as he watched the battle escalate. "Where the hell did Liam go?" he asked as he scanned the battle zone for his team mate.

"Vetra has him" Harry replied, while pointing past the biotic struggle. Scott's gaze followed where the wizard was pointing, only to see the turian female closing on the battle again while dragging the poor man in a headlock along with her. Both Cora and Peebee paused to send another push at her before turning back towards their own battle. Vetra swung around in a circle, releasing Liam into the path of the blast while using the momentum of her spin to dash forwards and bowl both of the other women over. They all went down in a pile, grappling and punching each other, all fighting skills forgotten in the ensuing frenzy. "You really should end this soon" Harry commented as he summoned Liam towards them. The man poor bounced a few times off the ground before coming to land in a heap by the Pathfinder and the wizard. "And you, you bloody wanker, need to avoid getting between girls who have a problem with each other." He offered a hand to the security specialist, helping him to his feet and pushing the groaning man towards the back row of seats.

"Fuck it" Scott said softly before climbing into the tank, motioning for Harry to get into the passenger seat. He swung the tank around towards the exit to the canyon while popping the hatch to the back of the tank open. He slowly began driving away from the ongoing fight behind them. "My dad used to do this to Sarah and I all the time when we were kids" he said, getting chuckles from both Harry and Liam as they remembered similar scenarios. "Ladies!" he called out over the team line, "It's time to finish up. Your ride is leaving."

"What the hell is talking about?" Cora wondered out loud as she pushed herself away from the pile of bodies. "He wouldn't dare…" she said as she stood up, only to see the tank slowly start to gain distance. "Son of a… Come on ladies, we'll finish this later. We need to go now." She reached down and grabbed PeeBee by the back of her armor, before pulling the startled asari up to her feet. Her offered hand to Vetra was take after a moment's hesitation, allowing the turian to be pulled up as well. "Start running" she told the ladies, before turning around and doing just that. She was joined by the other two a moment later as they gathered on to what was happening as well.

"You know that they're going to be pissed off at you when they finally catch up to us right?" Harry asked, looking over his shoulder at the running females as they slowly gained on the tank.

"I know" Ryder replied tersly, not looking forward to the next few minutes. He started to speed up a little, doing his best to delay the confrontation.

"Best you just get it over with now Ryder" Liam said as he patted his boss on the shoulder. "You don't want their anger pointed anywhere towards yourself. Believe me." The man gave a small shudder as he remembered being used as a meat shield.

Scott slowed the tank to a stop, letting out a small sigh a he watched the ladies close the distance. "Don't worry" Harry said to him, "I know just how to diffuse this situation" The Pathfinder looked over to his friend in confusion, watching Harry remove his helmet as the tank pressurized again as Vetra closed the back hatch. The Wizard reached down the front of his suit, only to pull up a small pouch that was resting on a string against his chest. He was about to ask what that could possible do to help, before falling silent as he watched Harry reach all the way to his elbow into the coin purse sized bag.

Cora slumped against the wall in the back of the tank, trying to catch her breath from her mad dash as she tore off her helmet. "Seriously Scott? You're leaving us behind in a combat zone on an alien planet?" Her tirade was interrupted as she instinctively caught something being thrown at her head. She looked at Harry in hurt and confusion wondering why he would attack her, only to see him gesturing for her to look at what was in her hand. She gasped a she realized she was holding an ice cold coca-cola, her favorite drink for "An easy calorie recharge after using her biotics, Coca-Cola ™ ". It was even chilled, judging by the moisture collecting around the outside of the bottle.

She heard Harry chuckle as she tore off the bottle cap with her glove and took the first swig of her favorite drink, since coming to Andromeda. She had accepted the fact that she probably wasn't going to see most of her favorite foods again in her lifetime since luxury items would be the last thing to be set up in their new homes. As she closed her eyes in contentment as she savored the drink, she heard her favorite wizard comment to his fellow males "Sometimes it's best to just bribe them with something they want so they'll leave you alone now." Cora made a mental note to smack Harry later, preferably after she kissed him for her present. She just didn't have it in her to get angry at the moment with how good she felt.

"Excuse me!?" Vetra had no such issue getting worked up though. She was already sullen from the unexpected run. Hearing her potential future mate make a sexist comment like that while giving a gift to her rival was the last straw. He glare had the wizard physically cringe back into his seat before he looked down, apparently trying to retrieve something quickly. Her foul mood abruptly vanished though as he came back up holding another bar of turian chocolate. Her eyes followed the bar as it moved in his hands, like a predatory avian locking onto its prey right before it would dive at it. Harry, understanding the potential danger he was in after his years with Hedwig, cast a quick cooling charm on the bar before tossing it back to his turian friend.

PeeBee looked between the girls excitedly, before turning towards Harry. She knew that her boyfriend wouldn't leave her without when he had already given presents to his strictly platonic friends. Her faith was awarded as the wizard saw her puppy dog look and sighed to himself before reaching back into his bag. She caught the large red bag he threw her, before turning it over and reading the word next to a large rainbow. "What are skittles?" she asked as she lightly hefted the bag, impressed with how much was packed inside.

"Just try them" Hary called over his shoulder as he turned back towards the front of the tank again. "You should go while they're calm" he told Ryder.

The Pathfinder jumped as he was broken out of his stupor from watching the ladies pacified so effectively. "You're teaching me how to do that later on" he threatened\begged the wizard as they began to roll. 'So many years missed out on being able to shut my sister up…' he whined to himself.

Harry felt eyes on the back of his head, but turning around showed all the girls were busy enjoying his gifts. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Liam pouting at him before looking back at the content girls. "Oh for fuck sakes" he muttered before grabbing a bag of beef jerky from his pouch and handing it to the security specialist.

"God bless you Harry!" the man cried as he tore open the pack, relishing in the smell of teriyaki glazed meat. The wizard just waved him off before taking out a bag of trail mix for himself and offering the bag to Scott. 'And they said I was crazy when I bought out all of those stores… Well who's laughing now!? ' he chuckled to himself as he watched the desert pass slowly by.

An explosion went off in the distance, showing Drax's current location to the rest of the planet's inhabitants as a mushroom cloud slowly crawled towards the sky. Harry sighed, knowing he was missing out on the fun.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry watched the remnant structure slowly rise out of the lake, it's metallic surface gleaming as water streamed off of it reflecting the sun's rays in all directions. He shook his head as he watched PeeBee rush towards the entrance, unable to contain her excitement at finally accomplishing something significant with the technology that had stumped her for so long. Scott rushed after her, not wanting anyone to be without backup, Liam and Vetra running to keep up with him. The wizard shared a commiserating look with Cora as they watched the others run off, before they followed at a more sedate pace, content on taking the more cautious approach.

The interior of the remnant structure reminded Harry of a metal cave. Besides a few lights and a door at the end of the room, there wasn't anything of interest to see as they made their way down the ramp from the surface. The walls stayed a steady metallic gray with purple lights interspersed in the walls and floor to offer poor visibility. PeeBee slowed to a walk as she looked around the empty hallway, visibly disappointed with the lack of anything besides an empty room. Harry patted her on the shoulder as he passed by, moving farther down the hall with Cora. He could feel a faint prickling in his magic, as if it was being brushed by something foreign, but not actually tampered with. The only thing he could compare it to was the last time he had passed through Hogwart's wards after the war had ended and they had been reset o passive mode. His intent had been examined for threats to the school and it's students, then allowed him to pass. He shivered as he realized that he might have just dodged a major bullet if his intentions had been monitored again.

"Everyone! Come and see this!" Cora had been walking along before a triangle shaped section of the floor had opened up before her. She examined the pit as the rest of the team converged on her location, unable to see the bottom of it as it disappeared into the darkness. Ryder whistled as he looked over the edge, drawing back quickly as a sense of vertigo hit him. He kicked a nearby rock over the edge, intent on seeing how long it took to hear it land, only to see it grabbed by a field of energy and slowly start to lower down the shaft.

"Well that looks promising..." Harry mumbled as he watched the stone practically glow from the energy field as its journey continued. "Does anyone else have a bad feeling about how this is set up?" Liam raised his hand as he slowly backed away from the edge, staring at the swirling energy field like it would reach out and grab him.

"All see is a way to continue forward" said Ryder, giving the enthusiastic PeeBee a fist bump as he moved to the edge. "I joined the pathfinder team to help everyone have a chance to survive here. That and adventure" he admitted with a smirk, most of the team responding to his words as they began to straighten up and step forward as well. "This is the best opportunity I've seen so far for possibly fixing this planet. We all remember what that central remnant machine did on Habitat 7. Now let's keep moving forward." He jumped off the edge, his body almost instantly engulfed in the energy as his fall slowed to a controlled descent.

Harry had to give it to the man, he made a pretty good speech. PeeBee gave a "Whoop" before hurling herself into the pit after him. Cora followed in a more sedate pace, sitting on the edge before lowering herself off it to drop. Liam had inched his way to the edge, but couldn't find it in himself to take the final step. "I just don't trust this tech" he mumbled to himself as he backed away again before perking up. "Harry! You have some kind of spell to help incase this tech fails right? I'm not jumping without it."

"Sure thing mate. Go ahead and move to the edge and close your eyes" Harry said as he moved behind the man. "Ready?" At Liam's nod he raised his hands and wiggled his fingers. "Abra-ca-dabra. Go for it." Liam gave him a nod in thanks before jumping after the others.

Vetra stared at Harry from across the pit, her guard up as she watched the wizard. "You didn't cast anything on him did you?" At the shake of the wizards head, she sighed. "I didn't think so. I knew the solution wouldn't be so easy."

"I didn't cast anything because he needs to trust his commander more" Harry said as he walked around the pit to stand next to the turian. "They've been together long enough to start doing that." He paused, considering the who was in front of him. "From what you've told me about your past, you never built that kind of bond with anyone but your sister have you?" Vetra's sad smile was all he needed for confirmation. "I get that you'll have trouble trusting the team to that extent so soon, but I hope we can get there eventually." He offered her his hand as he turned towards the pit, the others already were almost disappearing as they sunk farther down. "Let's start small. We'll do this together."

'If only you knew how much I already am starting to trust you' thought the female turian as she accepted the offered hand. Instead, a simple "Let's go" was all she said before they jumped together, never letting go of each other as the sank.

When they finally reached the bottom, they found themselves in a wide open circular room, the same tech scheme on the walls and ceiling that were in the entrance hall. Cora was waiting at the bottom of the life for them. She narrowed her eyes at a smug Vetra as the turian let go of Harry's hand as they moved away from the landing area. "Where is everyone else?" the wizard asked as he scanned around the room.

"They all headed down the hallway at the end of the room once they got tired of waiting for you guys" Cora informed him as she gestured over her shoulder. As the wizard moved off, she held her hand up, stopping Vetra from joining him. "What the hell was that about? Why were you holding hands?"

Vetra smiled coyly as she started to move off down the ramp towards the others, Cora walking beside her. "He was helping me out with my trust issues and fear of heights. He's a very caring man."

Cora stopped short for a second in shock before hurrying after her teammate. "But you aren't scared of heights! I've watched you hang off the edge of the loading dock to recover some freight that almost dropped when we were loading the ship."

Vetra grinned at her as they reached the bottom of the ramp, turning down the hall as they followed Harry at a distance. The others could be seen ahead, examining a dark console in front of a shut door. "That's true, but he didn't know it. And now I got to see another part of what makes him so good. It's the little things that build a relationship." Cora considered what she said as they joined the others. She would have to start making plans for the future.

"So what's the hold up" Harry asked as he walked up next to Scott, who was hovering over the console with his omnitool lit up as SAM examined the remnant device.

"I am unable to find what the problem is" said SAM, a tinge of disbelief almost detected in his voice. "Power is running into the console from the fluid tube Ryder activated farther back, but the console doesn't appear to be lighting up."

Harry leaned in, intent on seeing if he could discover the issue when he was gently pulled back by Liam, the black man moving past him to stand next to Ryder. Scott raised a brow as he watched the former SWAT member make a show of looking over the console, before standing back up straight and kicking it as hard as he could. The machine sputtered to life as Liam limped back over to lean against the wall as he shook off the numbness in his foot. "It's the universal language" he said with a light smile.

"What is?" asked PeeBee as she turned towards the man. In the background, SAM opened the door, revealing the contents of the next room to the team. "Violence" Liam answered as he patted her on the shoulder while moving after the others. "There isn't a race out there that doesn't use it to achieve something."

The team walked into the next room, finding another gravity well dominating the center of it. This time, the device was ringed with pieces of metal, constantly moving to slot into each other as they rotated around the outside of the well. An electrical field was maintained on them to prevent anyone from moving into the well to discover it's contents. Harry stared intently at it, to the point of blocking out the rest of the team's conversation. Something inside of it was almost calling to him, though he couldn't place what. "Where the hell are you going" he asked as he noticed the asari moving towards a side door. "You know we shouldn't split up in a place like this."

PeeBee rolled her eyes at the wizard's question. Honestly, it was nice having people care about her again, but she needed to be independent once and a while. "I'm heading off to investigate what this key might mean" she held up a piece of tech she had found in the room "while you guys move on to see about starting up this remnant tech again. Everybody wins." She backed up to turn again but was halted as the wizard held up a hand again to stall her.

"I should have done this a lot sooner" Harry muttered as he picked up 6 rocks from the ground before forming them into cards. They glowed blue as he muttered a spell before he slotted one into a pocket in his armor and handed the rest to his teammates. "This is a portkey. Say the name of our rover out loud… Wait!" he held a finger to the asari's lips as she began to speak, drawing a blush from her. "Say it's name and you'll be transported outside to the rover. Don't use it unless it's an emergency since its a one shot deal, and energy fields will disrupt it. Call it insurance." The cards were tucked away as the team received them. PeeBee gave him a quick hug before moving off towards the side door, entering it without a moment's hesitation.

Harry felt the gravity well give another pulse behind him as they walked towards the far door to continue into the base. He stopped, considering his options for a moment before coming to a decision. "Scott" he called out, gathering the teams attention. "I'm going to have to let you guys go on ahead. There's something up with that gravity well that I have to check on."

"What the hell?" Ryder exclaimed as he heard the wizard, "Are you sure it's that important? Losing you is a big hit to the team."

"I honestly don't know." Harry said, trying to explain in a way the other could understand. "Something to do with it is resonating with my magic. It would be like if you could feel your biotics pulsing in you. I just know it would probably be a good idea for me to find out what is going on while you guys continue."

"I can't say I completely get it, but I'll trust you to make the right call on this" said the pathfinder as he signaled the rest of the team to follow him towards the far door. "Catch up to us as soon as you can. I have a feeling we'll need all the help we can get."

Harry watched the door slide shut behind the Pathfinder before turning back towards the gravity well. 'Let's see what it is you have to show me' he thought as he approached the edge of the gravity well. Scanning spells that he cast seemed to almost be absorbed by the energy field, leaving him with no information for his troubles. Other spells such as freezing, summoning, and even blasting all seemed to have no effect as well. Harry paused as he realized he could feel the magic from his spells remaining in the field, almost becoming part of it but still having a feel of him. "Time to try something stupid again" he thought to himself as he slowly inched his hand towards the energy field, coating his hand in his magic as he did. The field sparked as he drew closer before his hand touched the electricity, instantly being drawn to it and sticking, unable to draw back. He felt his arm begin to heat up as his magic began to draw out of him towards the gravity well, while the field's energy began to enter into him. In desperation he threw his other hand into the field as well, instantly feeling relieved as the heat began to die down. 'Did I just finish a circuit?' he asked himself as he noticed the metal panels begin to draw together, forming a doorway into the gravity well free of danger. As the last panel slid into place, his hands were released as he fell to his knees panting. He felt as if he had run a marathon physically even though his agc felt like it hadn't been touched at all.

"What the hell was that" he thought out loud as he pushed himself off of the ground walking towards the door. As he passed through, the gravity well took hold of him, pulling the wizard towards a hole in the ceiling. The gravity field felt as though it was saturated with his magic, almost as if it had turned into his spell. Harry passed through the ceiling and was deposited onto the floor of a small room about the size of the cleaning closet that was his old home on ARK Hyperion that looked absolutely packed full of remnant consoles and computer equipment. 'PeeBee would be in heaven here' he thought to himself as he walked towards the end of the room only to find a chair facing the wall. He lowered himself into the strangely comfortable furniture, aware that it didn't exactly fit his contours. The wall slid away in front of him, revealing a gigantic subterranean cave that had been carved into the planet, completely awash with a black liquid and interspersed with pyramid like structures that crackled in electricity. 'This is amazing' he thought to himself. 'What were these people capable of to create something like this?'

A slot in the console in front of him slid open, before a black object hovered out of it to sit at chest level in front of him. It had the color and dimensions of a bowling ball, but looked textured as if for an easy grip. Hesitantly, Harry reached out to place his hand on the ball. Nothing happened, prompting the wizard to pulse his magic to his hand again. The ball's contours sank away under his hand, leaving an imprint of his appendage as it slowly sank back into the console. The rooms consoles began to light up, one after another as the room started to come alive. A holographic pad in the corner of the room lit up, a dark orb like shape with an angry red eye appearing in the visualization field. "Start up sequence initiated for installation B-209 initiated" it hissed in the remnant language. "As you are a new user, please state your name and clearance level for verification."

Harry froze, unable to think up any better response to the question than when he had been prompted the first time. 'I really need to figure out an answer for this' he thought to himself. "Screw it" he whispered to himself before hissing back to the holograph. "My name is Harry and I am an explorer"

The eye in the machine pulsed red as it processed the name. "Designation: Harry was logged at one of the control spires earlier this cycle. Clearance still not authorized for this part of the installation. Restraining field initiated. Please stand by for security to arrive."

A orange gravity well was cast down from the ceiling, pushing so hard on the wizard that he was unable to twitch. "Nomad" he coughed out, barely able to form the word, only for nothing to happen. "Oh Fuck Me…" he thought to himself as he heard a panel slide open behind him.

 **Author Note: Sorry about the late updates, I have a job, wife, kids, and a neglected Xbox that all need love and commitment too. Thanks to a bunch of you like Blaze1992, Goretooth, and Lord Light Cybergate for further ideas while the rest of you provide great complements and criticisms. Thanks to the flamers as well. I don't give a fuck about your comments' content, but knowing you had to read the story to form an opinion is worth it :-)**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Out of the Frying Pan…

A/N: Unedited, will clean up later.

Harry tried to concentrate on breathing as vision began to swim from the lack of oxygen, his lungs unable to expand enough to allow for full breaths while under the suppression field. The heavy scraping continued towards him until they stopped at his side. Harry was in a near panic as the chair he was in began to recline until he was laying horizontally, staring up at the ceiling. A humanoid upper body covered in white armor, its face a blank mask with no features leaned over him. The robotic face stopped right outside the force field before two orange eyes appeared on the mask, the features almost seemed to be made of thousands of orange lights that merged together before falling away again. "Good afternoon Mr. Potter. You seem to require some assistance."

Harry's eyes flew open at the voice, able to place the sarcastic mechanical tone anywhere. "SAM!" he mouthed, unable to actually get a sound out.

"Yes Mr. Potter" the AI nodded as it continued to examine the energy field surrounding the incarcerated wizard. "I do believe I know how to fix the problem. But I'm going to need your help. I need you to listen to me very carefully." The AI locked its eyes with him. "Who is the chess master in Andromeda?"

Harry stared in confusion for a moment before his magic flared in rage as he tried as hard as he could to break out of the field and attack the smart ass AI who was taking advantage of his plight. His efforts were for naught though as he was forced back into the chair, utterly exhausted from his futile struggle. He stared up at the AI in impotent fury, thoughts of vengeance swirling around in his head before it all fell away in defeat. "SAM is" he mouthed, unable to continue any further as the field's energy increased to counter his movements.

"Thank you Mr. Potter" SAM said as the robot body straightened back up to its full height. It snapped its fingers, causing the power to go out before resetting itself. The field ceased as the chair leveraged itself back to its normal position and the orb returned back to its resting state. "I have reset the security system in the room Mr. Potter. Your designation and bio-electric or 'magical' field has been added as having full control of the facility from now on."

"You damn AI!" the wizard sputtered as he regained his breath, taking the opportunity to roll himself out of the chair onto the floor. He barely had the energy to crawl at the moment, let alone stand. "Are you telling me you could have done that at any time since we got here?"

The robot turned away from him, moving forward to look out of the viewing window upon the vast cavern filled with remnant terraforming devices. Harry noticed that the lower half of the robot was made in the likeness of a snake, many long segments connecting to each other until they came to a tip at the end of the tail. "I found this body in one of the storage rooms after Scott uploaded me into the installation's systems. Apparently it is built in the likeness of how the Remnant's creators looked, though left unfinished for whatever reason. I noticed alerts that you had tripped the security and made my way here post haste. As for your question, no I was not able to update the central system until I was able to access the ports contained in this room. Security in this installation is locked down tighter than I have ever experienced."

The AI turned and indicated back towards the chair. "Please try to access the system again Mr. Potter. I am curious to see what you will be able to do. There are significant portions of code that I am still locked out of that only a user has access to."

"No way in hell am I getting back in that chair" Harry said as he fished around in his pouch before pulling out a small bottle and downing the Pepper Up potion that it contained. He leveraged himself back to his feet as he made his way back towards the energy lift to exit the room. "Are you coming with me or are you staying here?" he asked the AI.

"I will go back to the Pathfinder now that you are safe again." The robot body fell to the floor as one of the monitors lit up with an orange tint.

"That works too I guess" the wizard mumbled. "Let Scott know I'm heading his way. And SAM? Thank you for saving me."

The screen glowed a brighter orange for a moment, "You're welcome Mr. Potter" before it went dark again. Harry took a final look around the room before shrinking the body of the robot and putting it in one of his suit pockets. 'That smart ass AI deserves a gift for the help' he reflected before looking out of the window and seeing a group of flashlights making their way down a path on the side of the cave. Measuring the distance in his mind, the wizard turned on the spot and disappeared from the control room. He reappeared a moment later in the middle of the group causing Vetra to jump with a squawk of fright.

In the next moment, four fully loaded weapons were all pointed at his head Harry chuckled nervously while holding his hands in the air. "I told you Harry would be joining us soon Pathfinder" SAM reminded the team leader, causing the weapons to be lowered before both Cora and Vetra smacked the wizard upside the head for his foolishness.

The crew moved on, using Scott's scanner to track the pipes channeling power for the Remnant facility as they moved deeper and deeper into the facility. As they moved from the huge cavern into a side passage, Harry took notice of the different robot bodies lining the walls. All of them were still in a state of inactivation, yet they all matched the various builds that the team had been fighting since they had arrived on the planet. He had yet to see anything like what SAM had occupied earlier, leading him to wonder just where exactly the AI had found it at.

The team exited the passageway, coming into another large cavern. The path turned into a bridge spanning over a small lake of the conductive liquid with the room expanding out to the side in both directions. The bridge stopped half way with a few pillars randomly placed in the liquid. "Time to go off road" Scott called with a wave of his arm before activating his boosters and jumping to the nearest island followed soon after by the others. What followed was a platform hopping spectacle with a chain of beings trying to time their jumps to not run into each other as they attempted to cross to the far side of the cavern.

Harry grinned as he watched the event unfold in front of him, once again thankful that he had other means of travel. As he prepared to apparate, he felt a faint tug on his magic from somewhere in the distance. He turned to the lake, barely able to see a platform in the distance with a strange structure on it. His curiosity getting the better of him, he turned on the spot and disappeared, reappearing at the base of what looked like an unbloomed flower the size of a large tree. The stem could easily be mistaken for a tree trunk it was so thick, while the bulb at the top was a dark green color. Harry placed his hand near it, barely able to feel a magic flowing through the plant, as if muted somehow. Channeling his magic to his hand, he placed it against the stem, and pushed the power into the plant. In a flash, his magic was pulled up to the bulb before it bloomed into a beautiful multi petaled alien flower the size of a house. The petals each a shade of deep emerald green that reminded the wizard of the killing curse that he had seen up close too many times to ever forget. "Harry… Where are you?" he heard the Pathfinder ask over the radio.

The wizard laughed sheepishly as he looked back, barely able to make out the team's lights in the gloom. "Do you see the green light in the distance?" he asked. At the confirmation, he activated his omnitool, beaming a video of the tree back to them. "This was calling to me and decided to bloom when I touched it."

A gasp was heard on the comms before Cora cut in excitedly. "That's an entirely new species of plant. There's no record of anyone discovering anything else like it before. We need a sample!"

"That's great!" Harry said, "I think I'll call it Cora's Bloom, after our resident amature botonist." He ignored the excited squeal from the comm chanel, instead staring up at the tree in trepidation. 'How the hell am I supposed to get a sample of this' he thought as he leaned against the trunk, only for something heavy to hit his head as it tumbled to the ground. Looking down he found a seed pod, magic practically radiating from it as he picked it up and put it in a conjured container before placing it in a suit pocket. 'I'm going to need to look into this when I get back to the ship. This might be the first magic ingredient I've found in this galaxy' he told himself, before taking a branch from the trunk and heading back to the others.

He had just gathered his bearings when he was pulled into a full hug by Cora, the pressure of it enough to actually set off warnings from his suit. "Thank you, Thank you!" she gushed as he handed her the sample, her passion for the subject on full display.

"What's the big deal about?" Vetra asked as she watched the public display of affection with a gimlet eye, not liking the closeness on display. "It's just a plant. They're all over the place."

Ryder shook his head as he watched his second in command show true joy for the first time since arrival in Andromeda. "It's actually a very big deal to someone who is so into plants. Harry just gave her a huge gift."

Liam nodded in agreement, clapping the wizard on the back as they all looked on. "It's like finding a new type of star for an astronomer and then getting it named after themselves to commemorate it. There's no comparison."

Harry simply shrugged as he watched the team gather themselves up again, the Pathfinder activating the door to lead to the next area of the installation. SAM caught all of their attention as they moved deeper into the tunnel, causing them to stop and listen. "I am detecting a large energy signature behind this door Pathfinder. Odds are good that this may be the activation chamber for the installation."

"Oh thank god" Scott said thankfully as they walked into the small room that overlooked a large chamber containing a pyramid structure with a blue beam coming out of the top of it. He walked towards the console in the center of the room, picking up another of the 'keys' that was laying on the console and throwing it to Harry who had joined him. The others stayed near the door, ready to engage any hostiles that might show up. Scott held his hand over the control panel, hesitating for a moment before setting it down on the console itself. His omnitool lit up as SAM entered the system before the control rods touching his hand began to sink into the panel holding them.

The beam on top of the pyramid began to fade before cutting itself off entirely. A silence spread across the entire vault before lights began to grow brighter on various displays on the walls. "The system lockdown has ended Pathfinder" SAM informed him as he exited the system. "The vault and atmospheric processor should be coming back into full operation."

XXXXX

PeeBee looked up from where she was inspecting a container as the installation began to activate around her. She activated her comm as she stood up and began to move to the door. "Ryder, you just released the lockdown didn't you? This place is lighting up. The power readings are off the chart." She watched the processors in the fluid lake light up like miniature suns showing more Remnant robots as they began to activate as well. "Really, Really off the charts…" she began walking at a steady clip towards the cavern's exit, her pace increasing as the sounds behind her grew louder.

XXXXX

Harry's head started pounding as he felt the vault's power activate, the flow almost feeling like wards activating around Hogwarts when the final battle started. He looked up in alarm as he felt the intent of the installation almost shift to something hostile as a dull red glow began to form at the back of the cavern. "PeeBee!" He shouted in alarm, his tone causing everyone around him to jump. "Activate your portkey NOW!" He heard her affirmative response before a familiar *whoosh* was heard. "Everyone activate your portkeys! The installation is set coming for us!" A flash of light signalled Vetra's exit, the turian not waiting after hearing the desperation in Harry's voice.

"What the fuck are you talking ab...?" Ryder asked as his voice trailed off at the sight in front of him. A thick black cloud of smoke was expanding through the facility, gaining on their position fast. The bright white lights of the facility were now all casting an angry red glow as if showing the vault's emotions towards its unwanted guests. Scott wasn't willing to stay around see if the incoming attack was survivable. "Activate the portkeys now!" he ordered, echoing Harry, before shouting "Nomad!" He blinked as he realized nothing happened, turning to see the cloud getting closer.

Harry yanked the Pathfinder's arm, sending him stumbling towards the door before sprinting after him. "Run!" He shouted as he sprinted past Cora and Liam. The two took off after him, all of them charging back towards the large chamber and activating their jump jets to clear the platforms. "That cloud is stopping my magic from working!" he said in between breaths as he ran with the team, all of them making it to the beginning of the bridge. "You have to get far enough away from it for the portkeys to activate!"

Ryder and Liam had gained a bit of a lead as they raced to the end of the bridge. "Nomad!" Liam shouted before disappearing from the cave, the poor man flailing around in panic as he found himself in a tornado of lights. The next thing he knew, he slammed into the side of the Nomad tank, before stumbling backwards in a daze. As he tried to stay upright, a second flash of light appeared before he was sent ass over tea kettle as Scott collided with him.

Both men groaned as they pushed themselves apart, laying in the sand as they looked up to the sky. PeeBee's head appeared from the top of the tank as she looked down from her perch on top of the vehicle. "I'm glad you guys made it! Did you see how it looked in there when everything became active? And look up at the sky!" She pointed upwards to where the beams from the towers met above them. The green tinted atmosphere was slowly beginning to bleed away towards a more healthy blue as the radiation was swept from the sky.

Vetra stumbled around from the side of the tank, one hand supporting her while the other curled around her rebelling stomach. She stopped as she saw the others before craning her neck to search around her. "What happened to Harry and Cora?" she asked causing the others to shut up in realization.

XXXXX

Harry watched Scott and Liam escape, happy that his portkeys had done their job after all. He looked back as he heard a cry of pain, watching as Cora tumbled to the ground. She held her ankle in pain, unable to believe that she had twisted it on the one rock on an otherwise smooth surface. "Fuck my life…" she moaned, realizing that she wouldn't be able to escape in time.

The wizard looked back at the exit, only to watch the blast doors finish closing over it, his moment of hesitation costing him. He ran back to Cora, throwing his arm over her shoulder as he watched cloud begin to form through the back wall as it began to cover the room. He frantically scanned the cavern for another exit, only to see everything closed off as the vault worked to tap them. All of a sudden, he felt another pull on his magic, prompting him to look at the tree on the distant platform. It glowed softly, as if calling to him. He looked over to Cora, the woman's face locked in a combination of fear and depression as she realized the hopelessness of their situation. He tapped her helmet to get her attention before looking deep into her eyes. "Do you trust me?"

She nodded frantically, a small light of hope beginning to form in her chest at the light in his eyes. "I do" she said as she waited for his solution.

He turned them to the side of the bridge so they faced the tree. "When I say go, activate your boosters and aim for the tree. Don't stop until you get there no matter what." He looked at the approaching cloud, calculating distances before casting a quick weight lessening charm on the two of them. "Go!" he shouted as they leapt into the air, their boosters screaming as they flew towards the island.

Cora landed badly with a gasp of pain as her leg hit the side of the ledge. She barely managed to pull herself over the tree as she watched the cloud get closer. Seconds before it was there, she felt herself pulled to her feet and slammed back first into the trunk, before Harry's body covered hers with his back facing the cloud. "Shut your eyes!" the wizard commanded before she could speak. Once she complied, he released his wand from his holster and stepped back from her, pointing it at her feet. He cast the most powerful Protego Totalum he could around her, willing to sacrifice himself to increase the chances of her survival.

He turned to watch the cloud as it reached the edge of the platform. The wizard didn't exactly welcome death, but was happy that he would at least go out saving someone he cared about. Just as the edge of the cloud reached him, he felt a pull on his body. He flew backwards into Cora, her biotics ceasing as she gripped his arm tightly. "Cast it again now!" she said. "Wither we both make it or neither of us do." Harry rolled his eyes in exasperation before recasting the spell, the shield flaring as the cloud began to pass over them. He felt his magic start to drain at an alarming rate before the spell was almost ripped from his grasp. The shield began to glow brighter as the magic practically thrummed in the tree behind him, the vegetation obviously adding its own power to the spell.

Cora gasped as the cloud finally began to dissolve around them, the overhead lights turning to a healthy white again. She jumped as Harry collapsed to his knees in front of her, his head hanging in exhaustion. She gripped his arm tightly before shouting out "Nomad!" She held onto the wizard for dear life as they spun in the vortex before daylight greated her as they landed sitting on top of the tank.

"What the hell" she heard Liam exclaim as she looked over to the rest of the crew gathered in a circle at the base of the tank. "I'm glad they're safe and all but how come they didn't get thrown around by the portkey?"

Harry rolled on his side so he could see the security specialist, grinning tiredly as he pushed himself into a sitting position. "If you struggled during the trip then the landing usually is rougher." He pushed himself off the tank, landing in the sand before straightening up to regard Ryder. "Did it work?" he asked, taking out the 'key' they found earlier and passing it to the excited asari.

Suvi's voice came into the comms, a happy note in it as she read her instruments in the Tempest. "The atmosphere is beginning to scrub itself of radiation. It will take a few days for most of the world to become habitable again without the need for hardsuits. Primary mission accomplished Pathfinder."

Scott grinned as he patted the wizard on the shoulder. "Look up and see for yourself." He opened the driver side door of the tank, climbing in and shutting it behind him. "We have on last spot to check before we're done with this mission. There's a potential site for the new colony to scout on the opposite side of pylon 2. Now everyone get in." He watched the others all look at each other before for a moment before the scramble ensued.

A soft pop heralded the wizard who now sat next to him in the passenger seat. "Shotgun" Harry calmly stated as he reached over and locked the door right before Cora could reach it herself. The others piled in grumbling as Liam and Vetra were stuck in the cargo bed again. Harry cast a subtle cushioning charm towards Vetra, causing her to grin back in thanks as she felt it take effect. Everyone held on as the Pathfinder floored it and the tank leapt forwards.

XXXXX

Harry looked up from his omnitool as they crested the last hill, curious to see the new colony area. A small lake at the bottom of a valley surrounded by canyon walls greeted him as they began to race down towards it. A flash caught his eyes, showing a kett dropship taking off from amid some ruins at the far side of the valley. "Looks like we got company" Liam muttered as the Nomad began to vear towards the ruins.

"Wait" Harry said, pointing out the window. "Isn't that Drack down there fighting the kett?" The wizard threw open the door as the Nomad came to a stop, leaping out with the rest of the team as they set up a firing line after taking cover behind some waist high ruins. At Scott's signal they rose up at one, shooting their magazines empty and dropping all of the ketts' shields as well as killing two of the smaller ones. A growl caused Harry to spin around, two yellow eyes lunging at him as the kett dog became visible at the last second of its attack. A strong burst of uncontrolled magic flew from the startled wizard, catching the beast in the face and sending it flying hard enough to smash against the canyon wall like a water balloon. Harry grimaced at the gore before turning around and resuming fire as they dropped the final heavy kett.

Drack wheezed as he pushed himself to his feet, every one of his joints reminding him of his age even as his brain slowly came out of its rage now that the fight was finished. "That fight was… fun!" he exclaimed in surprise. It had been a while since any kind of fight including humans was anything short of tedious.

Ryder walked up, getting his own breathing back under control as he nodded to the krogan. "I know! We did good together."

The old krogan stared at the Pathfinder before grinning as he stowed his weapon. "You can really handle yourself kid. And I hear you're the one to thank for clearing up the sky too?" He looked at the bodies laying around them before snorting. "Guess I had your number all wrong."

Ryder straightened up a little at the praise, unused to anything but criticism from krogans before. "So the clouds parted, and those kett look pretty keeled over. Looks like the humans can pull their own weight after all."

Vetra saw her chance and leaned in over Scott's shoulder as she looked at Drack. "That almost sounded like a compliment Drack. What do you say? Want to help us do some good?"

Drack kicked a kett corpse as he thought for a few moments. The humans hadn't been good to him and his people so far, but damn if these ones didn't know how to have a good throw down. He shrugged, "You know what? I'm gonna ignore my gut and join up. This fight was good and we can do it again."

Harry snorted to himself as the group began to spread out and check the bodies to make sure all of the kett were dead-dead instead of playing dead. "You got jealous of the explosions we caused didn't you? Glad you're finally joining the big boys now old one."

Drack frowned at the cocky attitude the little human was showing him. "And what exactly did you contribute to the battle just now that was anything special runt?" The human just grinned at him while pointing to the canyon wall. Drack looked up, seeing an impressive kett blood stain thirty feet off the ground. "Ok…" he rumbled slowly, looking back down again. "Style is nice, but that still only counts as one."

"Kiss my ass you old fossil!" Harry shouted as he threw a dismembered kett hand at the krogan. The dinosaur simple chuckled as he batted the appendage aside before continuing on as if nothing had happened. It was always nice to get one over on the young upstarts.

Ryder and Liam jogged back to the Nomad, retrieving a beacon from the storage before lugging the equipment out to a flat area by the lake. Looking around at everyone as they waited for him, he slammed his fist down on the top of the beacon, activating it. "This is where we'll build our new outpost" he said as he looked around. "A real beginning for all of us."

"The local area is free from radiation pathfinder" SAM informed the team. "We are preparing the deployment order to the Nexus now. You will need to decide what purpose the new colony will serve."

"You mean the Nexus doesn't get a say in it?" Ryder asked confused as the rest of the team ripped their helmets off in relief behind him.

"Negative. Resources are at a critical point. Protocol states that the judgement call falls to the pathfinder. You must choose if the new outpost will be military or science oriented" SAM stated.

"Crap" Ryder muttered as he looked back at the team. "What do you guys think?" He needed opinions if he was going to make any kind of decision that big.

"Military definitely" Vetra said, "The kett are kicking our asses and we need to be able to defend ourselves." Liam and Drack nodded in agreement with her.

"I think science is the way to go" piped up PeeBee. "There's so much to explore and discover here that we need all the help we can get with it."

"I agree with her" Cora said while pointing her thumb to her blue companion, "Who knows what we could discover from all of the animals and plants here." She shot a meaningful look to Harry.

"Honestly?" Harry said as everyone looked at him. "Despite what they say, you can repurpose a colony easily enough if the needs change. I'd say you should consider that this is also going to make a statement for the rest of the galaxy for what our real purpose is. Do we come as military or discoverers? And I'd also like to point out that all of this is probably going to be recorded for prosperity so watch what you say."

"Well that pretty much decided it for me" Scott said with a small smile. "Were going to prioritize research and discovery. That's our foundation and our future."

"Good call" the wizard said as he walked up to join the pathfinder. "Besides, why the hell would we go through keeping the Nomad unarmed to avoid provoking the locals just to start a military base now? That's just stupid as all hell."

Ryder couldn't help but laugh at the sound logic from his friend. A sonic boom brought everyone's attention to the sky as the initiative ships began to make planet fall. A tall black man jumped out of the cargo bay of the first one that landed, making his way over to Scott. "I'm August Bradley, the new mayor I suppose. Were ready to make the most of what you've delivered for us." He looked around at the landscape, a little excitement beginning to rise in his expression. "You found us a pretty damn good spot" he said as he shook Ryder's hand.

The pathfinder just grinned happily at the man's enthusiasm. "I feel like I should toss you the keys. Be nice, its been through alot."

Bradley tossed him a salute as he turned to take charge of his people. "We're calling it Pondromos" he shouted over his shoulder as he started to wave down the next landing shuttle.

The sound of a throat clearing caused Scott to swing around, surprised to find that Foster Addison had come as well and was waiting patiently to talk to him. "I haven't seen them this motivated in months" she said as she watched all of the activity. "It's far from a golden world, but now its a producer. A real and reasonable first step. For us, you did the impossible where we all failed before. We all had begun to lose hope. You brought it back. Thank you Pathfinder." She held her hand out to shake.

Scott considered his options for a moment. This woman had been nothing but a colossal bitch when he had first arrived. In the end though, he gave in and took her hand. "I appreciate the candor" he said. "We're all on the same side."

Foster offered a wane smile, before walking towards the workers who were already setting up habitats. "I wouldn't go that far" she said. "The reality is this is just one outpost on a longshot planet. You bought us time, but it wont stop us from starving." She considered Scott's irrepressible grin for a second before seeing a similar one on Harry. "You already have something else?" she asked.

"The vault had a navpoint that points towards something else" Scott assured her. "Were not done yet by a long shot."

Foster sighed as she looked into the distance. "Now it gets complicated. The others are ready to sign off on your success and announce it. We all want you to succeed but can't agree on how to do it."

Harry snorted from behind them. "Politics will end up killing us all in the end at this rate."

"It got us this far" Foster countered before looking back to Scott. "I'll be back on the Nexus. Talk to Tann and I before you move on."

The wizard watched her as she walked back to the shuttle, shielding his eyes as it began to lift off. "Why are the bitches always so hot?" he asked as he watched it go.

Scott grinned as he watched the same sight. "They just are. It's how they've managed to survive and thrive throughout history." He turned to walk back through the colony with the wizard in tow, determined to gather up his team. It was time to get the fuck off of this rock.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry sat back in a leather recliner in the main room of his tent, enjoying the air conditioning from his runes as he read from one of the medical texts that he had 'liberated' from St Mungos before he had left the wizarding world. Scott had made it clear that Harry's first priority back on the Nexus was to see what he could do to bring Sara Ryder out of her coma. Harry was pretty sure the last few hours of study had given him a solid enough game plan for an attempt, but the fact of the matter was that he had never done anything like this before. Still, flying by the seat of your pants could have been the Potter family motto for all he knew considering how he always acted. He took a sip of his Bitburger beer as he thought about the after action review that Scott had just finished with the team in the meeting lounge. The criticisms had been on point and brutal for each of them as they were laid bare in front of the rest of the team. Harry knew already that he had a bad habit of doing things on his own that he would have to curtal to work effectively on the team. There actually hadn't been much else to say about his job other than good work. Liam was similar. Drack hadn't been around long enough to warrant a review yet, but Harry had still let them know that the old guy had kicked ass much to the krogan's pleasure. The ladies had been brutalized though. Cora had felt the need to justify her actions until Ryder brought up the video of their fight for the front seat of the Nomad. After seeing that embarrassment for herself, she had sat down meekly for the rest of the tongue lashing from her superior. Weather PeeBee and Vetra actually cared enough for the lecture to matter was another thing entirely.

Harry looked over at his guest, eyebrow raised as the individual raided his refrigerator for the second time in the last hour. "You have your own quarters. Why the hell are you over here?"

Scott leaned back out of the fridge, a beer bottle in one hand and a apple in the other. "You kept this stash a secret from me and you dare to ask why I'm over here? You're just lucky that I don't tell the rest of the crew about it." He moved back over to the living room and took a seat across from the wizard. "So what's the verdict on my sister?"

Harry shrugged as he closed the book. "You have a few choices. One, just wait for her to come out of it naturally. That's probably the safest. Two, try to see if the doctors have any solution to the issue. Three, have me mind walk and see if I can bring her back to the forefront of her consciousness. Keep in mind that I haven't actually done this before."

Scott whistled as he sat back, considering the options. "We'll use your method if there's no other choice and we absolutely need her awake. If the doctors think she'll come out of it naturally then we'll give her the chance though."

"Works for me" Harry replied. "Have you thought about what you're going to say when dealing with director Tann? You know he's going to make this a huge deal."

"Hell no" Ryder replied, determined not to give the bureaucrat any more of his time and energy than completely necessary. "I have a few errands to run when I get there first. After that, I need you to accompany me to the medical bay on the Hyperion to see Sarah." After the wizard nodded he stood up, straightening his outfit. "We land in a few minutes. I'll call you soon."

A vibration on Harry's wrist made him open up his email on his omnitool. He had one new message, raising his interest as no one really knew him here yet to send anything.

 _You have taken the interest of my little flower away from me. Prepare to meet your ancestors for I will show you no mercy._

 _-Vorn_

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Harry sighed in relief as he sat on the barstool at the Vortex. He had been lucky enough to be able to apparate to the loading dock's entrance, skipping all of the checking in process as well as Tann and his entourage entirely. He had a glamor on showing a black middle aged dock worker this time, as well as a scent suppression spell to stop from getting stalked. He was just passing time while waiting for Ryder's call at this point, having already finished his shopping earlier while the director stood on a pile of boxes and spoke to the masses.

He perked up as a good looking blonde engineer sat down next to him, ordering herself a beer. She glanced at him before taking a long pull from the bottle. "So what is your continued privacy worth" she asked conversationally, causing him to develop a look of confusion. "Kesh had us set up monitors to detect when you do your teleporting thing. We picked you up the moment you first came back. I was on duty and haven't allerted her yet, so I'll ask again. 'What is it worth to you for your privacy?'"

"I don't know what you're talking about, but how about I buy you a drink to show there's no hard feelings?" Harry figured he'd play this all the way as long as he was already going for it. He put down money for another drink for the girl before walking for the exit, unaware that she had activated something on her omnitool.

The wizard stepped out of the bar, taking a moment to stretch while admiring the trees. After seeing that alien one in the vault, he had a much bigger appreciation for all things green. A shadow fell across him, prompting him to look up at the railing to the second floor. His pupils dilated as his blood ran cold. "I found you…" Kesh cooed in a soft voice as she leaned over the rail. The sinister grin on her face promising nothing good for her prey.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Sleeping Beauty and Waking Nightmare

Scott sat in a chair by his sister's bed in the Hyperion's medical bay. He had just finished talking with the head medical officer and the news was less than welcoming. Sara's brain waves were abnormally low for someone in a coma, let alone what standard ones were supposed to be when asleep. Without the normal readings, they were unable to determine whether she would wake up at all, or if something had been damaged during the botched de-thawing process. As he slowly fell into despair at the news, one of the asari doctors had stepped forward to suggest a controversial option that worked for her people.

The news that he could possibly speak to her through a biotic meld was staggering to him, but he didn't like the implications that it could possibly damage her even further. Human brains weren't made to handle the biotic stresses nearly as well as asari could. He had just resolved to let the coma run its course naturally, leaning in to give her a kiss goodbye when he felt her hand twitch in his grip. 'Fuck it' he thought as he got up to find the asari doctor, 'I know I'd want them to do everything to wake me up.'

Scott didn't know what to expect when the meld initiated. Maybe he would be surrounded by darkness, or stuck inside one of Sara's dreams as she experienced it. What he did not expect, was to still be staring at the same infirmary wall that he had been when the process initiated. He looked over at the doctor questioningly, watching as her pupils took on the black color showing a successful meld. "Trust me" she said, cutting off anything he could say. "Its active. Just say what you want to in your mind through your biotics and she'll hear it. But make it quick, I don't want the strain put on her any longer than necessary."

Scott closed his eyes, the darkness making him feel like he was a little more connected with his twin. 'Sara' he thought, feeling her hand twitch in response again. 'Sara, can you hear me?'

'Scott?' a faint voice called back, sounding as if it was spoken across a huge divide. 'Where am I? What's going on?'

The Pathfinder's heart nearly leapt out of his chest in joy as he heard his sister's voice for the first time in what felt like forever. 'You're in a coma right now Sara. The ship took some damage while your de-thawing process was going and you weren't able to come fully awake. I'm talking to you through an asari meld right now so we have to keep this short.'

Sara tried to gather her wits as she took in the news. Her brain felt sluggish, as if she was only able to use a portion of her capacity. 'It's good to hear your voice Scott… So the ship had a collision? Did we make it to Andromeda ok? What does our new planet look like? Is dad exploring it right now?'

The asari frowned as she listened in on the conversation. Concern for the girl in her care forcing her to speak up. "You should be careful of what you tell her right now. The shock might very well cause her to recede even farther back into her mind."

"I appreciate your concern" the Pathfinder said frowning in thought, "but she's my twin. We don't keep secrets from each other." 'Habitat 7 wasn't what we thought it would be Sara. There were some complications that made it unlivable for now.' He paused at her gasp before powering through, determined to get all of the bad news out of the way now. 'We tried to find out what the cause was, but we met some hostile aliens while down there. Dad sacrificed himself to save my life Sara.'

He winced as he hand shook in his. Her whimpers began to grow fainter in his mind causing his eyes to fly open. 'SARA!' he shouted, 'I need you to stay with me! You can't hide from this. We'll deal with it together just like we always have.'

Sara was silent as she tried to process everything she had heard, the hits just felt like they wouldn't stop coming. She needed to hear something positive. 'Tell me there's good news. Please tell me there's still hope for us Scott.'

Scott grinned in relief as he heard her request. 'There's more than hope. We already have a colony on one world started that my team and I just explored. We actually found machinery from an ancient alien civilization that we activated to start terraforming the planet. That's why I need you back! There's so much to do and see and I want you there with me just like we planned back in the Milky Way.'

Sara smiled to herself in the darkness as her brother's enthusiasm started to slowly infect her too. 'That sounds like something I would love… But I don't know how to wake up. I just want to start living again' she said in sadness.

Ryder frowned in thought before coming to a conclusion in his head. 'Sara, I know someone who might be able to help you wake up. His name is Harry and he's got a set of talents and skills that you'll need to see to believe and I'm really starting to see him as a good friend. The problem though is that he isn't one hundred percent sure that he can wake you and doesn't want to risk hurting you anymore. The other option is to just let you try to wake back up naturally and see what happens. What do you want to do?'

'Get him now!' Sara practically shouted, the desperation clear in her voice. 'I've been floating in blackness, unable to see or hear for I don't know how long. I even began to wonder if I was dead until you showed up. I can't go back to the silence again Scott… Please don't make me.'

'I'm not going anywhere' Scott reassured her. 'Let me call him and then I'll stay with you until he arrives.' The pathfinder opened his eyes and raised up his omnitool. 'Please pick up' he prayed in his head as he made a call to his friend.

XXXXX

Harry panted heavily as he leaned back against a wall, slowly sliding down to a sitting position as he put his arms on his knees and rested his head against them. His heart was beating so loud he was sure anyone with in twenty feet would be able to hear it clear as day. He had shaken himself from his terror induced state as Kesh began to brace herself for the beginning of the hunt. The wizard had cast a quick _lumos maxima_ , blinding everyone in the arboretum before rushing for the hallway into the living area. He heard a loud thud behind him from where Kesh had landed, the krogan letting out a roar as she began to furiously rub at her eyes to clear the flash. He had just rounded the first corner when he heard a set of heavy footfalls echoing behind him, the noise getting louder as his stalker began to pursue him at a pace that no other race was able to match.

The wizard had raced down two more hallways before throwing himself into an empty habitat room and casting a locking charm on the door. As he tried to sit and calm himself, he heard the heavy footfalls echo down the hallway outside of his hiding place. They continued down the hall past him before slowing and coming to a halt. A loud sniff could be heard before the steps began to slowly make their way back towards him. Harry cursed to himself as he heard her stop outside of his room, the wizard quickly casting an _impervious_ charm on the door. Kesh chuckled to herself as she used her omnitool to hack the door's locking mechanism, greatly enjoying the pursuit so far. "You forgot that I can smell your fear husband. I admit that this chase has been fun but now it's time for you to admit defeat. It's time for me to make you mine." She couldn't remember the last time she had so much fun.

Harry shuddered as he heard a disturbing giggle come from the female krogan who had laid claim on him. A sudden growl of frustration caused him to grin as a fist pounded on the door. He sank back in relief, his muscles finally loosening as the predator/prey response began to recede from his mind.

A light tapping on the wall near the door caused him to freeze as he tried to figure out what was going on. The tapping continued lightly as it slowly worked down the wall in his direction.

*Tap Tap*, now it was on the wall of his room...

*Tap Tap* it was closer now, a few feet away…

*Dong Dong* he felt the vibrations directly behind his head, causing his brain to ring slightly.

Silence filled the room before he listened as a claw slowly drug along the other side of the wall a few inches. *Bam* a clawed fist punched through the wall inches from his head, a scaly forearm all the way to the elbow now filling the right side of his vision as he struggled to remember how to breath. The arm slowly rotated, the hand landing on his head. "There you are!" Kesh sang as she ran her hand through his hair. Harry flinched as the hand ran down the side of his face, the claws dragging lightly against his skin and settling on his shoulder.

He threw himself forward, snapping off a quick _reparo_ at the wall, watching as it closed up around the arm. He cancelled his charms on the door, sprinting out into the hall and ducking Kesh's swipe as he ran back towards the main area. He turned to smile triumphantly at the krogan, giving her the middle finger as her eyes narrowed in anger at his audacity. He hadn't made it a dozen steps before a roar echoed behind him. His eyes widened in disbelief as Kesh tore her arm free of the wall, taking part of it with her in the process as she began to pursue him again. 'Shouldn't have done that' he reflected as he ran into the docking area, dodging people who stared at him in confusion.

He made for the rows of shipping containers, opening a hatch in one and hurling himself into it before casting an impervious on all of the walls and the hatch itself. As his senses returned to him, a pungent smell of garlic hit him. He rejoiced that he had randomly found himself in one of the food containers, the powerful scent it gave off masking his own from his pursuer. He heard Kesh stalk between the containers, low conversations making him realize that she had been joined by some of her team as they helped her search.

His omnitool lit up the darkness as it pinged at the incoming call. 'Well fuck' he thought as he heard people gather outside of his container. "What's up Scott?" he asked in a voice that sounded like it had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"Harry? Where are you? Why is it so dark?" The Pathfinder sounded like he had genuine concern in his voice, surprising the wizard.

"You remember what happened as we left the Nexus last time don't you?" he asked, getting a nod from the man. "Well she found me and I'm currently hiding. What do you need?"

"Are you sure you don't need help?" Scott asked, getting a quick denial from his friend. "Well, I was calling to ask you to come to Hyperion's med bay and wake up Sara. I talked to her a second ago and she wants you to try it." He cut off the wizard before the obvious question could be asked. "I was biotically connected to her mind by the doctor."

"Cool" the wizard commented as he watched the side of the wall begin to glow as a saw began to overpower his charm. "I have to run now, but I'll be over there as soon as I can." The call was ended before anything else could be said, as he wracked his brain for an escape solution. Harry closed his eyes, the sigh of the damned escaping from his lips as he raised his wand. "This is really going to suck" he murmured before casting a warming charm on himself, then an overpowered bubble head charm. His entire body became surrounded in a transparent bubble, thick yet delicate making him hold still in fear of popping it. He breathed deeply before turning on his heel and disappearing with a crack, reappearing a second later floating in space a few thousand feet off of the Nexus.

Verifying that his spells were holding as he rotated slowly, he raised his omnitool and put in a call to Cora. "Where are you?" was the first thing he heard as her face popped up on the screen. "SAM lost track of you after you left the cargo bay."

He looked around, panning his omnitool to show the external face of the Nexus. He chuckled nervously as he heard her gasp at the view he was showing. "So do you think you can come give me a ride to the Hyperion?"

"Are you not in a hardsuit?!" she asked as she caught a glimpse of his shirt in the view screen. "Never mind, SAM is tracking your omnitool, I'll be there as soon as I can. I am so kicking your ass for this stunt" she muttered as she closed the communication.

Harry lowered his arm, content just to float and enjoy the silence that surrounded him. He never had appreciated being in space so much before. It was so much closer now, just millimeters from him in all of its beauty and danger. 'I bet Drax won't be able to beat this' he reflected smugly as he watched a light separate from the Hyperion and begin to float towards him.

XXXXX

"You are such a dumbass" Scott said as the wizard settled down in a chair on the other side of Sara's bed. "How the hell do you voluntarily space yourself without a suit?"

"Try outrunning an angry krogan female that wants to mate with you and has the entire maintenance division of a space station on her side. Lets see how you do" Harry said with a deadpan expression. He shifted his focus to the resting face of the young woman laying before him. "So this is your sister? She looks enough like you that I can see the resemblance, but she's hot. And you're sure that she wants me to try this?"

"I ought to kick your ass for that comment, but I'll let it slide this time" the Pathfinder mumbled before growing serious. "She told me herself that she is willing to risk anything to wake up. She's been trapped in darkness this whole time, not even able to dream."

"That isn't normal" the wizard said in alarm, not having read anything about a case like that before in his texts. "This is something new for me so we'll just have to feel our way through it. I'm going to enter her mind, and hopefully talk her through coming back to the surface. Don't mess with either of us until we start talking to you again no matter what happens." At the man's silent nod, he gathered his magic towards his eyes before opening up Sara's eyelids and making eye contact with her. His world rushed forwards toward her before he saw nothing but blackness.

XXXXX

Sara stood alone in the darkness, waiting for her brother or his friend to come back to her. She couldn't see the ground, but just instinctively knew where 'down' was. She frowned as she heard footsteps near her before a faint white glow began to show in front of her. She squinted her eyes as they began to adjust to the light, revealing a figure holding a stick that was glowing at the end. He smiled kindly at her, stopping a few feet away and just standing there while looking at her. "Harry?" She asked, desperation clear in her voice. "Are you Harry?" At his nod, she found herself babbling in relief. "Thank God you came! Scott told me a little about you but I didn't know if you would be able to actually help me. What is going on and how do we escape from here? And how are you able to be here?"

Harry held up his hand to stop her, responding in a soft voice to help her settle down. "Easy there love, I'll answer your questions in order. Yes I'm Harry, and Scott told me that you wanted me to try waking you up. Right now we're stuck deep in your mind, though to be honest I've never seen one blank before. I'm not sure why you aren't dreaming. And finally, I'm here due to magic!"

"Magic?" Sara said in disbelief. "How does that possibly work? You're just making fun of me aren't you." She grew disappointed, unable to understand why Harry was lying to her after they had just met.

Harry simply smiled before motioning for her to sit. Taking his wand and conjuring a large top hat like the ones used by stage musicians, he bowed grandly to her. "Go ahead and reach into it" he offered, handing it to the startled woman. Sara tentatively reached her hand into it, immediately feeling something soft and fuzzy. She gasped as she felt it move before grasping it and pulling out a small orange kitten, which immediately began to purr and snuggle into her arms to share her warmth. "Usually I'd try to explain magic in a way for people to understand, but I get the feeling you'd rather do that in the real world." At her hesitant nod, he continued on. "Trying to explain biotics to someone who has never seen it before and had no knowledge of it would be close to impossible and probably look like magic to them. If you can except that there are other forms and uses of energies out there that maybe just haven't been scientifically explained, then this will be alot easier for now."

Sara normally would have argued being talked down to like that. She would be able to understand a through explanation just fine. But the darkness around her brought the reality of the situation back to her and ceased any rebuttal that she might have come up with. The purring kitten in her arms helped too. "I'll let it go for now, but I want a real explanation later on." She relaxed at his smile and nod of confirmation. "So what do we need to do for me to wake up?"

Harry frowned as he thought about the next steps. "Can you tell me what you've done since you've found yourself in this place? Have you tried to explore, or seen anything at all?"

Sara shook her head as she continued to pet the kitten. "I was floating in darkness and silence until I finally heard Scott. I found myself standing just before you showed up here."

Harry smiled in relief at hearing that. "That's great news. You're slowly starting to wake up on your own. You are starting to regain your senses, starting with telling what way is up. I knew Scott had already got your mind used to hearing and speaking again earlier. The reason I gave you that little furball was to jumpstart touch and you brought back sight by registering that I'm here with you. Normally each of these would happen on their own over time, but you said that you wanted it over sooner than later. I bet you haven't even registered that it's getting lighter in here even though I turned off my wand have you?"

She looked around in wonder, realizing that the blackness was beginning to fade to a gray as a fog began to form around them. "Congratulations." She heard from her companion, drawing her attention back towards him. "You're finally coming out of that pit you found yourself in and entering your subconscious. If you stay here than you'll begin to dream again. Do you want to wake the rest of the way normally now?" She shook her head violently, standing up and grasping his arm with hers to make sure he wouldn't disappear on her.

He sighed in defeat before looking down at her as she clung to his side. "Well, I'm sure you heard of the phrase 'go into the light' right? It's actually the way to wake from a dream." He pointed to towards a doorway in the distance. It glowed a faint white through the fog, almost welcoming her towards it.

She took a step towards it before noticing that she was alone. He shook his head as she looked back at him, motioning her forward with his hand. "You have to do this on your own. It doesn't mean anything if I make you. You're going to have to trust me on it. I promise I'll wait right here until you go through and I'll be there when you wake up as well." He cleared his throat uncomfortably before pointing at the kitten still in her arms. "I'm going to need the furball back as well. You can't take it with you." He rolled her eyes at her pout, breaking down as her eyes began to water. "Fine! I'll make you another one when you wake up. Now stop looking at me like that!"

Sara grinned as she put the cat on the ground. She still had it. Now the number of people she could bend to her will with the puppy dog included her father, her brother, and Harry. "I'll see you soon" she said, giving him a surprise hug before turning away quickly to hide her blush. She took a step towards the door, followed by another. Her pace increasing until she was running towards the light.

"See you soon" she heard behind her before she crossed the threshold and everything went white.

XXXXX

Sara blinked away light, rubbing her hands to her eyes to try to clear them. She was suddenly aware of her own breathing, as well as her pulse that she could faintly feel. She felt the texture of the skin on her face compared to that of her hands. Her biotics thrummed powerfully inside of her, itching to be released after sitting idle for so long. A sharp gasp to her right caused her to bring her eyes to her brother. Scott gave her a watery smile, attempting to force his tears back into his eyes as he finally saw his sister come back to him. She held her arms open in invitation, grunting a second later as she was swept up in a bear hug so tight that she found her breathing strained. It had been years since she had been this close to her brother and it felt nice.

A light groan brought her attention to the slumped figure in the chair on the other side of her bed. Harry's eyes fluttered open as he rubbed his head to drive back the headache from delving into someone else's mind. 'It never gets easier' he reflected rufely as he leveraged himself back up. He saw Sara looking at him over Scott's shoulder as she continued to hold him in her tight embrace. Harry smiled at the sight before standing up slowly to make his way out the door and give them some privacy. Sara let go of Scott with her left arm, holding it open for Harry to join the hug as well. When the wizard just stood there confused, she began to scowl, snapping her fingers at him before pointing to herself. "Seriously?" he asked, unable to believe she was doing this.

"Just do it" Scott muttered from over her shoulder, still held in the embrace. "She won't stop until you do and you don't want to see her mad." He shut up immediately as her nails began to dig into his back, prompting him to groan in pain.

Harry tentatively leaned forward, doing his best to stay out of Scott's personal bubble. It was all for naught though as he was yanked in by her surprisingly strong grip, her arm circling under his and entwining into his hair. He glanced to his left to see Scott's head over her other shoulder. "Is she like this with everyone?" he whispered to his fellow man.

Scott shook his head as he glanced back at the wizard, shooting him a look of sympathy. "She never was like this with anyone besides family." He grinned at his friend, thankful for what he had done, but unable to hide the humor in his voice. "Lucky you." Both of them were shut up a second later as the claws came back before the nurse stepped up and took a picture of the three of them. Sara grinned to herself. Things were looking up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"God I missed this dirt ball!" Harry fell to the ground as he walked down the ramp, kissing Eos's soil in gratitude. He spit it out a moment later as he realized just how nasty the taste was as the others chuckled around him.

"What's so great about this place?" Sara asked with a frown as she looked around at the blasted landscape. Barely any vegetation was growing and all she could see was sand and rock all the way to the horizon. After going through hibernation with visions of a beautiful Habitat 7 as their new home, this new colony was underwhelming to say the least.

"Well that's simple dear sister" Scott said with a smile as he gestured towards the colony off to the side. "We're in a new galaxy at one of the only human settlements around. One that we helped build no less. The environment isn't trying to kill us anymore with radiation now that the atmosphere has been properly scrubbed and we can now go around with our helmets off. Trust me, this is paradise compared to what we've seen so far."

"That's all well and good" Drax grunted as he watched the ridge for enemies, "but why the hell are we back here if the colony is already up?"

"I've been talking to August Bradley and Pondromos still needs some work put into it before we can consider it a viable colony" Scott replied. The main problem is that the kett still need to be dealt with. They've been harassing the colonists already."

"Scouting runs" the krogan grunted. Harry couldn't help but agree. The easiest time to dislodge settlers was when they we're still setting up before they had time to dig in.

"Exactly" the Pathfinder confirmed. "We're taking the fight to them before they begin their assault. We also have a bunch of lesser missions to take care of as well, from geological surveys, to destroying kett outposts, and discovering the truth behind why that turian was stuck in jail."

"I'm telling you, he's guilty of something" Harry interjected. "Find out the truth, but be careful. It isn't as clean cut as what he told you."

"Noted" Scott said before continuing with briefing. "We're splitting into two teams to finish these jobs quicker. Cora, Vetra, Liam, and myself will take the Nomad to go uncover the murder truth and finish the surveys. Harry, Peebee, Drax, and Sara will roll back the kett outposts. Try to take them out before they get word off to their base. I want them to be blind deaf and dumb when we take it down later." He paused for a second as he watched Drax grin and Peebee begin to scoot closer towards Harry, the wizard shifting away unconsciously. "Sara is in charge of her team." He held up his hand to stop any arguments from the two males. "Trust me, she's seen combat before and was trained just like I was to be a backup pathfinder. I promise you won't be disappointed." Harry looked somewhat mollified by his words, but Drax still looked mutinous. "Take one of the colony's crawlers to come in under the radar. Keep me informed of any issues. We'll meet back at the ship before nightfall. Good hunting everyone."

The teams split off to their respective vehicles, before heading off in different directions. The assault team pulled up to the first kett outpost, parking the crawler behind a rock formation and sneaking towards the perimeter. "OK" Sara got everyone's attention. "Let's plan this out. Peebee and I are going to be the biotic artillery and stay in cover. Harry, are you comfortable joining Drax in the forward assault?" At the wizard's nod she continued, "Does anyone know how to bring down the outpost?"

Drax snorted in disgust, pushing himself to his feet and ignoring her frantic motions to stay down out of sight. "Watch and learn new blood. No warrior gives respect to a commander if they haven't even fought before." He kicked Harry in the side, chuckling as he received a punch in return to his bad hip. "Lets go runt. Time to do some killing." The krogan charged towards the surprised kett with a roar, smashing one and shooting another before they could react.

"God damn fossil is going to get himself killed" Harry grunted, ignoring Sara's frantic orders himself. The wizard banished the large rock that he was hiding behind directly into the communication gear, totalling it along with the two kett trying to get a frantic message out. He pulled out his rifle, firing a full clip at a heavy kett who was busy shooting at Drax, dropping it's shields before sending a blasting hex its way that caused its upper body to simply cease to exist. He charged off into the firefight, following Drax's trail of carnage.

Sara's jaw dropped as half of her team disappeared in less than five seconds. Her hand shot out, grabbing Peebee's arm to stop her from rushing off to the battle too. The asari giggled nervously as the grip on her arm tightened before settling behind the rocky outcrop that Sara had already taken up cover at. "Start casting pulls." Sara ordered as she charged her own biotics. "I'll finish them off. Let's see if we can get both of their dumb asses back alive so we can kill them ourselves."

The next few frantic minutes reminded Harry of the muggle American holiday of the Fourth of July. He had visited a beach one year during the event and had been treated to watching the yanks try to blast part of their beach into oblivion with every kind of explosive that could be purchased by civilians. Between the ladies' biotic attacks, his spells, and Drax's general brand of mayhem, he was pretty sure that you could see the show from orbit around the planet. When the final bullet was fired, not much was left of the kett greater than a few body parts and a finely ground paste. One of the biotic blasts had destabilized the core of the base, prompting a quick evacuation by the two males, with Drax cackling in excitement the entire way.

Harry watched the last of the pieces of the base land back on the ground before he was struck by a quick slap in the back of the head. He looked back at an angry Sara as he tried to recover from having his bell rung. "Don't charge off to rescue someone without hearing the plan" she ground out, getting a frantic nod from the scared shitless wizard. She turned away without another word, stalking towards the amused krogan. Drax watched interestedly at the smaller female that had shown she had some teeth. He tensed as her body was wreathed in a powerful biotic field before her hand flew out faster than his eye could track. His ears rang as he received a powerful biotic slap on top of his crest. He growled as his collar was grabbed by the smaller human, his rage rising at her audacity. She paid no attention to him, her head turning to see a kett dropship incoming towards the remnants of the base. She calmly raised her hand, building an incredibly large biotic flare, before releasing it at the ship. She turned back towards the krogan as the dropship exploded in mid air, his eyes wide at the destruction. She leaned towards him, ignoring the rancid breath. "Follow my orders next time or I. Will. Fuck. You. Up." She pushed off of him, causing him to stumble as she walked back towards the crawler, her biotics dying out as she went, Peebee following behind her.

Harry glanced over at Drax as the krogan cautiously watched the human female as she moved off. "You just had your ass handed to you old man. That was awesome to see."

Drax just grunted as he started walking. "You're one to talk runt. I don't have a problem with following a strong female if she proved herself in battle. But she has her sights set on you. I can see it clearly." He chuckled as the human stopped dead in his tracks. "Oh yes, this will be amusing. And don't think I haven't noticed that my adopted daughter is gunning for you as well. We're going to have a long talk about that later." He watched as a single tear escaped the wizard's face, the man's fear open for all to see. 'Good' he thought, 'at least the runt recognizes how much he is screwed.'

"Will you two shut the fuck up and get back in the car already?!" Sara shouted at them from the driver's seat. She could tell already that her patience was going to be tested to the point of breaking before the day was over.

 **A/N: Well it's pretty obvious who has the biggest quad in this group.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: I'm Not Dead Yet

Sara sighed to herself for what felt like the millionth time that day as she watched her team go about their favorite brand of mayhem. It had only taken three days to clear out all of the kett outposts around the two large lakes near Pondromos thanks to how overpowered her team make up was. PeeBee and herself had their teamwork down to a science as they took turns setting up and finishing off various biotic combinations on any groups of kett they could find. The aliens were literally shredded in the ensuing explosions, their shields unable to withstand the forces generated by the two powerful women of the group.

The kett had not taken this assault laying down however. They had begun to set up heavy shield generators in key choke points to counter the biotics. Concentrating so heavily on defending against one type of attack though had left them open to to being bull rushed by Drack as the krogan would gleefully charged right into the middle of the fight. No kett was safe if they came with in ten feet of the krogan, his shotgun and war hammer pulping his targets to such a degree that it took scanners to figure out what designation they had been beforehand. The ancient krogan had become even more deadly once he realized that his flank was secure thanks his wizard partner behind him, allowing him to concentrate fully on destruction without any concern for his defense.

Harry had performed surprisingly well in her eyes despite his civilian background with no real military training. He had obviously fought in small groups before, being familiar enough with the tactics to be able to stick with Drack's movements while still bringing the fight to the kett. Harry had confided to her while traveling between assaults that this was some of the hardest fighting that he had ever done before. She had expressed disbelief considering how effectively he fought, using a combination of his gun and magic to drop any enemy with apparent ease. He simply had shook his head before closing his eyes and laying back in his seat. "Looks can be deceiving" she heard him murmur, his voice barely audible over the crawler's engine. "I've never been in a situation like this before. I'm just starting to find out what I'm capable of… and it scares me."

Sara was brought out of her thoughts as a victorious roar from Drack brought her back to the present. She mentally chastised herself for letting her mind drift off during the middle of a battle, glad that nothing bad had happened during her lapse. "We could probably use a break after this" PeeBee said, giving Sara a pointed look as she pushed herself up to her feet from behind the rock they had used for cover. The asari bounded into the smoking ruins of the last kett base camp, throwing herself on the back of the wizard. She ignored his cry of protest as she tightened her grip while congratulating him and Drack on a job well done. Sara grit her teeth as she observed the moment, unsure of why it annoyed her so much. She cursed the fact that that PeeBee was so easy to underestimate due to her childish nature, only for the asari to completely switch up her personality to act mature a moment later before reverting back once again. She had to admit to agreeing to PeeBee's observation though as she watched Harry slog back to the crawler before sitting down in the shade it provided as he removed his helmet and ran a hand through his sweat soaked hair. Maybe they could all use a rest before moving on.

Harry breathed deeply as he tried to settle his racing heart. He had never fought in such a battle before, Scott's words about needing to travel light making much more sense now. The battle for hogwarts had been the only real fighting he had experienced before and that had felt more like a race than the marathon he was running now as they spent days fighting in Eos's deserts. Thank Merlin that he was able to perfect sending out blasting curses with a hand wave alone due to all of the practice over the last week. They were less powerful than when he used his wand, but still hit with the force of a RPG and didn't drain him like some of his other wandless spells did. He couldn't help but feel excited at what the future may hold for him though in terms of magic if he was able perfect something like this in so short a time. Necessity truly was the mother of invention when it came to himself, or at least a great motivator.

The wizard looked up as he felt a presence approaching. He smiled as he watched Sara walk over, the woman joining him in the shade as she sat down a few inches away and removing her helmet as well. He observed her for a moment, frowning as he began to notice how pale her skin was and the dark circles under her eyes. She had only been out of cryo sleep for a few days before she had jumped into battle feet first. "Are you doing ok?" he asked, unable to stop himself. "You look like you need a break before you drop."

Sara frowned at the question, wondering why if he was considering her so weak. Looking into his eyes though made her realize the depth of his concern, touching her that he cared so much. "I'm doing ok" she reassured him, closing her eyes as she listened to the noise of the planet around them. "I'd rather be doing this than laying down for any longer. I've been asleep for hundreds of years, only to be stuck in a coma directly afterwards. I'm just thinking about our old home and what I miss from it."

Harry relaxed as he heard the truth in her statement. "I know how you feel" he said "We all miss it. But we all came here for something new as well. Be careful what you ask for" he said, pleased at the chuckle he received from his friend. "So what's your favorite drink?" he asked.

Sara blinked at the abrupt subject change before trying to wrap her mind around the question. "Honestly, I've always been a dr pepper fan myself. What kills me is that the storage container of them that I brought with me was taken out by our first run in with the scourge. I had found out right before we left for here on the Tempest. Vetra said she might be able to locate some, but I dread what it'll end up costing me."

Her rant was interrupted by her omnitool signalling an incoming transmission. Her brother's face popped up on the monitor, his features looking just as worn out as her own. "What's your status?" he asked before his silhouette was backlit by a large explosion going off behind him. "We're just about finished here by the way" he continued with a wry smile.

"We're done clearing out the western areas of kett presence" Sara reported with no small sense of pride. Harry pressed into her side to see the monitor as well, to her hidden pleasure. "We even put up some transmission/receiver satellite dishes on the cliffside above Pondromos to connect them with the news network." She grinned at her brother as he shouted at his team to head back to the Nomad, having to repeat himself to be heard over the gunshots. "It sounds like you might still be busy yourself. Do you want to pick this back up a little later from now?"

"No" Scott quickly returned, "let's finish this now." It always got under his skin when his sister found a way to be superior to him. Some things never changed, no matter how old you were. "I want everyone to meet back up at the ship. We're doing a progress review and moving on to the eastern hills and deserts to finish destroying the Kett power base. I'm sure Bradley's people have a few more tasks for us too. We'll see you there." He spied the wizard peeping in on the corner of the screen, "Harry, make sure nothing happens to her."

"Will do" the wizard offered a sloppy salute before pulling back to grab his two teammates. "Time to go guys!" he shouted as he jumped into the crawler, taking a moment to update his omnitool's map with a new symbol to show another kett base destroyed.

Sara watched him go before looking back at the screen, only to see her brother's knowing smug expression. "You can be such a dick sometimes" she muttered as she moved to end the call.

"Love you too Sara" was his last line before the screen winked out and she got up to join her team.

XXXXX

"I'm sorry Scott, could you please say that again so everyone can hear it?"

Scott scowled at his friend before repeating himself again, "You were right Harry. The Turian was innocent of murdering his supervisor, but only due to the fact that he missed his shot. He's still dishonorable as hell." He turned his back on the celebrating wizard to go back to addressing the rest of his team. "So far, we've already started the terraforming of the planet, and brought the new colony online. My team has rescued some dumbass scientists from their own hubris in trying to control remnant tech, solved a murder mystery, performed geological and biological surveys, and explored the second failed outpost."

"Funny story there" Liam interrupted, the man's enthusiasm unable to be contained any longer. "We fought a new kind of kett that we haven't seen before. The colonists had locked it inside of the colony to contain it until we went ahead and accidently released it ourselves."

Vetra shivered as she remembered the encounter, her scales practically standing on end. "That damned thing was humongous. And it stank so bad…" She sniffed her clothes before deciding she would have to burn them to remove the stench the creature had left behind. She froze as a quick spell from Harry swirled around her before disappearing. She paused, trying to identify what the spell had done, before noticing that the smell from before had vanished. She gave the human a quick one armed hug in gratitude, her arm lingering long enough to make a point to the other three females in the group. She smiled internally at the scowls she received, glad her point had been made.

Cora rolled her eyes at the unsubtle move before smiling in gratitude at the wizard as he cast the spell on the rest of them as well. "Picture if the kett put their bone armor on King Kong and pointed him in our direction. That's about how bad it felt to face it down." The recognition in the others' eyes showed that her description had hit home, human monster movies having been part of the Hollywood media blitz that had been exported across the Milky Way after they had joined the Citadel.

"I'm just glad everyone is still ok" Sara said, trying to bring the meeting back on track. "So far, we've tracked down who was breaking into the colony's supply crates. Coincidentally we've been able to talk some previous exiles into rejoining the initiative by joining Pondromos. We've also put those giant communication dishes up over the colony thanks to a combination of easy to use building tech and Harry's unique brand of help."

"We also found another entrance to a new part of the vault!" PeeBee burst in on the conversation, unable to contain her excitement. "It was already discovered by a dead initiative scientist, but I'm going to see what I can do about adding her research into my own!"

Drack grinned at the others as he brought up what he felt was the most important objective to date. "We've slaughtered all of the kett on this side of the colony. Heh heh heh. We need to keep up the momentum." He couldn't believe how good the fighting had been in the last few days. He was living every krogan's dream job as far as he was concerned.

Harry looked up from his omnitool to see everyone looking at him expectantly, waiting to hear his contribution. "Um.. I'm not ready to report my long term projects yet since I'm not sure if they'll actually be viable yet. I'll sound off when I actually have something substantial to offer up." He felt bad as he saw the disappointed looks from some of the team, obviously they had expected something good from their resident magic man. A humongous explosion went off in the distance, a black smoke cloud lazily rolling up into the sky from behind a set of hills. Harry scratched the back of his head while chuckling nervously as the others turned to look back at him again. "I might have also booby trapped a few of the kett bases with some exploding runes as well." At the continued stares, he quickly elaborated. "I didn't want them to come back after we left. Humans have been using that tactic for centuries."

Drack roared in laughter, smacking the wizard hard enough on the back to send him face first into the sand. "The krogan always believed it would have been a great war if we ever had to fight the humans. You guys fight for keeps!"

Scott smiled in amusement as he watched his friend sputtering as he pushed himself out of the sand. "We just have a few final objectives and this colony will be ready for the real settlers to start coming down. We need to use some miniature krogan maw hammers to try and pinpoint the water table for Pondromos's use. We also need to finish wiping out the kett resources before we assault the main base. We're all traveling together for these final portions. I have a feeling that we'll be needing everybody for this."

He began walking towards the Nomad, opening the driver side door before looking back at the others. He shook his head in exasperation as he watched them form in a circle for the now established tradition. It looked some things just weren't going to change no matter how much he bitched about it. His closing the door was the sinal for the scramble to begin. The ladies formed a storm of biotics while Drack manhandled Liam and Vetra who had teamed up to take him down. "How long do you think it'll take this time?" he asked, turning towards Harry as the wizard made himself comfortable in the passenger seat.

The wizard shrugged as he observed the carnage while enjoying the AC. "Logic says that it'll take longer due to more people, but I think Drack and Sara will end up cleaning house before turning on each other." True to Harry's prediction, the fight ended less than two minutes later with a pile of groaning individuals in the sand, and Drack flying over the Nomad to crash into the sand on the other side after being biotically thrown by Sara. The Pathfinder's sister calmly walked toward the vehicle, only to stop short as she saw the door locked and Harry lounging behind the window. She scowled as she climbed into the back row, followed by a limping PeeBee. The rest climbed into the cargo hold, all of them casting nervous looks at Drack. The krogan's bulk making everyone else nervous if he started rolling around.

Scott grinned as he floored it out of the colony and up the steep incline, ignoring the shouts and *thuds* coming from the back of the Nomad. They entered into a tunnel in the side of the mountain and immediately small arms fire from kett weapons could be heard pinging off the front armor. "Everyone get ready to engage the enemy!" Scott called over his shoulder as he began to slow.

"Wait!" Harry ordered as he grabbed the throttle and pushed it forward to max power. "We may not have weapons, but this tank is heavy as hell right?" Scott grinned as he caught on, the tank jumping forward and ramming into a hastily built kett barricade. The hostile aliens were sent flying in all directions as the Nomad stopped to off load its occupants to finish of what was left of the enemy. Only one kett had stayed safe from the surprise attack. He sat on top of a cliff overhead, pouring fire down on the team as fast as possible. Harry watched the alien for a moment before turning on the spot and appearing behind the kett. Without a sound, Harry drove his shoulder into the lower back of the alien. The kett, who was now identified as a chosen thanks to downloads from the destroyed outposts, went flying over the side of the cliff. Its cry of surprise was quickly interrupted as the rest of the team opened fire on him while he was in free fall. Harry examined his surroundings before freezing up at the sight of a familiar piece of technology. "Scott!" he shouted down the rest of his group, "You really need to get up here now! I think I found an escape pod!"

He listened to a scramble of boots before familiar shapes began to show up on the path along the side of the cave that lead up from below. The wizard simply pointed past himself to the white escape pod with Initiative markings on it. Scott flew towards the pod, his scanner already flashing as the others surrounded it. "This escape pod is from the Ark Leusinia Pathfinder" SAM informed everyone present. "The flight recorder is heavily damaged but shows that the ark has launched multiple escape pods since coming to the Helios sector of Andromeda."

Cora's eyes lit up with hope at hearing the first news of the asari ark since she arrived in Andromeda. She was all smiles the entire way back to the Nomad. As the tank finally left the tunnel system, it passed through a short canyon before coming out onto a ledge overlooking a dessert that stretched as far as the eye could see, only a small mountain breaking up an otherwise flat skyline. Tall kett structures could be seen in groups randomly placed across the land, three towers that looked like windmills without the blades appeared to be sucking in something from the atmosphere and sending it down to a processor plant at the base of the towers. Power lines ran from the towers to a small kett base farther down the ledge they were on before running up the cliff face to the main kett base perched on top of it. "There's the prize people" Ryder said as he gestured towards the main base. "Everything we do from here on out is for the sole purpose of weakening the defenses of the kett for the final assault. I count seven power collectors for the kett so we will divide and conquer. Don't destroy it until we are all ready to at once. That way they won't be able to effectively coordinate a counter attack before we all escape back to the rendezvous point." He assigned each of the team to a tower before sending them on their way, leaving only Harry and himself behind. "Don't worry, I've got something special planned for you" he said as he turned towards the confused wizard. "Do you think you can make that kett base disappear?" he asked, gesturing towards the smaller base at the bottom of the cliff.

Harry shrugged, "Yeah, probably. How messy do I get to be?" the wizard asked as he considered the best plan of attack.

"The messier, the better!" the Pathfinder shouted with a grin before jumping back into the Nomad to drive for the farthest generator, leaving the wizard behind to contemplate his task. Harry watched to make sure he had no witnesses before donning his invisibility cloak and casting silencing and scent removing spells on himself. He slowly moved towards the outside of the base, slowly carving explosive runes into the base of the building every few feet or so. He absolutely loved the norse rune used for the purpose, it being one of the only ones that Hermione had successfully taught him. Most runes required being put into a matrix to control their power, usage, and timing. The beauty of an explosive rune was that it was purposely kept unstable and would be set off by any magical surge near it. Harry daisy chained the runes around the entire building, all while listening to kett go about their day to day duties. Chosen, the heavy kett called Anointed, and the shotgun wielders called Destined constantly marched in and out of the building as they went to perform their duties. Yet no one saw the graffiti on their base that was the only mark of the wizard passing.

Harry completed his work before moving back towards his starting point. After considering how many runes were used, he moved back an extra hundred feet and crouched behind a boulder. "I'm ready Scott" he said into his omnitool as he pulled out a pepper up potion to shotgun, his fatigue from the heavy magic usage receding back into nothing but memory.

"Rodger" the Pathfinder replied. "Standby for further instructions Harry. Everyone else, execute and head to the meeting point! I'll see you in a few minutes." Harry sat with his back to the rock, his omnitool left open to allow the others to hone in on him. He grew bored in a few moments, activating the magnification on his vid screen and pointing it at the tower at the back of the kett main base. He didn't see much until he panned towards the top, a balcony showing up completely packed with kett as they watched smoke plumes begin to raise from their generators. "Harry!" the Pathfinder's voice flared up, "Do it now! We're almost there to pick you up."

Now Harry had a choice, he could simply activate the runes, or he could make a statement. Choosing the more interesting option, Harry kept the omnitool on the kett while activating the recording function. He pulled his wand, casting a simple _lumos_ charm and pointing the output at the tower. He watched as first one kett noticed, before it directed the rest of the group to look at the strange light. Killing the spell, he slipped his wand back in its holster and pointed his palm at the nearest rune and cast a tickling spell. It was so weak that he doubted it would barely even pull a giggle out of PeeBee. The little pink beam flew true, smacking into the building with a soft pop. The rune took offense to its airspace being occupied by another spell, choosing to explode violently in a show of protest. It decided to bring it's friends with it, the rest of the runes exploding as well in such a quick succession that it looked like a single large bomb had gone off. The building disintegrated from the force of the blast and a large crater was formed as the dust was thrown into the sky. A mushroom cloud lazily floated into the sky showing just where the devastation had happened to the rest of the planet's occupants. Harry turned off his omnitool, determined to share the ketts' expressions with the rest of the team later on.

Ryder pulled up next to the wizard, stopping just long enough for Harry to climb into the passenger side front seat before flooring it back to the cave system. "How the hell did you do it?" he asked aloud, not taking his eyes from the road.

Harry buffed his glove against his suit, acting as if he was viewing his fingernails. I snuck over under invisibility, where I started setti…"

"No! I don't care about that, you blew some shit up. Good job. Not that unique a thing on this team." Ryder took a hand off the wheel longer enough to point at the seat Harry was in. "How the hell did you make it so no one took the front seat while you were gone?"

"I'll tell you later" the wizard mumbled, unwilling to divulge the secret to the rest of the glaring occupants who now remembered that the seat existed all of a sudden.

"What ever" Ryder said, already moving on. "Check your gear. We're taking the fight to the kett base now and throwing these assholes off of the planet while they're still reeling from the hits."

"This is going to be awesome!" Drack roared from the back of the Nomad before tumbling backwards as Scott took a hill. Liam's last sight for the next few minutes was a boulder sized krogan rolling towards him before everything went black.

XXXXX

"Everyone hold on!" Scott called over his shoulder as he gunned the engine. Taking Harry's point earlier about the Nomad's mass to the next logical step, Scott drove the tank directly into the turret guarding the gatehouse to the shield surrounding the kett main base. The weapon was knocked completely off of it's pedestal, effectively making it useless. By the time the stunned kett began to react to such a brazen attack, the team was already out of their ride and laying down a wall of fire. Scott stepped up to hack the door with Vetra and Liam providing cover fire while Sara led Cora and PeeBee onto the roof to start taking out dropships with their biotics, effectively halting any reinforcements from reaching the gate defenders. Drack and Harry charged into the thickest concentration of remaining enemies, the krogan scattering them with a charge before swinging his hammer to pulp the upper body of an anointed trying to bring his minigun to bear. The remaining chosen lost body parts to a pair of cutting curses from Harry before they were put out of their misery by Vetra with her rifle.

"Form up!" Scott ordered as he sprinted for the now opening door. The team fell in behind him as they bum rushed the bridge connecting the gate to the main tower. Their shields managed to deflect the sporadic kett fire as the aliens rushed to form a cohesive defense, only for the Pathfinder's team to over run their position while leaving a few grenades in their wake. "Don't slow down for anything!" the Pathfinder shouted as he continued to charge forwards. Drack moved to the front of the group, determined to not let the humans have all of the glory. He chuckled as the runt teleported in front of him, his wand flashing for a second before the large door ahead of them screeched open as if it was protesting it's treatment. Drack pushed the wizard behind him as he sped up, flying straight into the building and down the hallway into the main hanger. The charging krogan managed to pick up a destined along the way before the startled alien could even thing to cloak, running into the far wall at full speed. The ancient berserker stumbled away from the dent he created in the metal plating, the kett's broken body falling in a heap on the floor in front of him.

He heard the Pathfinder barking orders behind him as he tried to gather his mind back from the blood rage that had overcome his higher functions. "Cora! Take PeeBee, Vetra, and Liam back to the entrance. Try to close the door and keep the enemies outside from coming in and catching us in a pincer." He watched as a tall kett wearing spiked armor levitated off the ground as it was surrounded in a bioelectrical sphere of energy. "There's our primary target ladies and gentlemen. Drop him fast, but don't forget about any reinforcements that may arrive. We aren't done until this building is cleared!" Drack let out a roar of acknowledgement before sprinting for the nearest anointed who was trying to lay down cover fire.

Sara grimmaced as she watched the krogan assault the large kett, the alien's shield doing nothing to stop a large hammer swinging at it's head. Focusing her attention back to the kett leader, she emptied her clip into his shield only to see no visible damage done. "Target the drone it uses to direct its attacks" SAM supplied to the team as he observed the battle from the path finders field of vision. Sara charged a flare, firing it at the orb on the outside of the shield. When the explosion cleared, she saw that it was visibly slagged and the alien looked much less confident than it had a few seconds ago. Scott biotically charged in, destroying the drone the rest of the way in an instant. The shield sputtered before failing completely, the kett dropped to the floor in a boneless heap, exhaustion clearly visible on his features. Before he could even open his mouth to denounce his attackers he was hit by a full body bind cast by Harry. Thick metal ropes covered him from the neck down, restricting his movement completely.

A silence in the room made him realize that Drack had finished sweeping away the small fry while they had been occupied. "Cora!" he barked into his omnitool, "What's your status?" He took a moment to visually scan the rest of the room for threats while he waited for a response.

"Scott? We're good here. We set up a base of fire at the door and they came rushing in like lemmings, no tactics whatsoever. Whatever you did in there panicked them enough that they wanted in no matter what. We're just sweeping the base for intel and any remaining kett now." Cora sounded out of breath as she finished her report. The culmination of the battle finally showing on the strong willed lady.

Scott grinned happily as he turned off the omnitool before turning back to his team. "Drack, stay here and make sure everything is dead. We'll be right back." He gestured for Sara and Harry to follow him as they made their way to the elevator in the back of the room. The ride up was made in silence, everyone too tired to even try to make small talk. The elevator let them out on the top floor, a room clearly set up as the office of the planetary leader. Storage pods and trophies were placed around the room in a pattern that only made sense if you were kett. A large console with multiple screens sat front and center in the middle of the room, data flying by on the screens at a fast pace. Ryder practically sprinted for the console, SAM already preparing to do a deep dive into the kett's planetary databases. Sara walked more slowly towards the trophies, trying to decipher what they were and what their purposes meant.

Harry ignored all of this as he made his way towards the now vacant balcony that he had seen earlier. The wizard stood out in the open, his eyes closed to the sun as he felt the wind caress his face as it flowed by. His renewed vision was rewarded by an incredible sunset as the sky began to turn different shades of red and orange as the sun began to leave the sky and make its way towards the desert. "It's a hell of a view isn't it?" he asked as he heard footsteps behind him.

"It sure is" Scott agreed as he took a panoramic image with his omnitool. He leaned on the rail next to the wizard as he looked down at the desert. He felt Sara approach behind him, the woman resting an arm on each of the men's shoulders as she enjoyed the familiar company while admiring the view. He paused as he saw the size of the crater where the smaller base used to be at. "I bet that explosion looked impressive from up here."

Harry snorted in laughter as he brought his omnitool up to show a still capture of the kett on the balcony. They all had their jaws hanging down as they stared in disbelief at the destruction of their comrades. "Yeah, I'd say they were pretty impressed" he quipped as he sent the file to the others.

Scott chuckled as he saw the link, looking forward to sharing it with his friends. "We ready to go?" he asked as he turned towards the elevator.

"Affirmative Pathfinder" SAM answered him, "though I wish we could have taken the console back with us for forensics. Who knows what we could have learned."

Harry wordlessly cast a cutting curse at the wires coming out the back of the console, before sending a shrinking charm at it as well. "There you go" he offered as he stowed his wand again. "Anything else you want to take too?"

"I think we're good here" Ryder said with a grin as he picked up the pint sized supercomputer and sealed it in a pocket in his hard suit. "I'm heading down to gather the rest of the team. Finish up and come join us so we can head back before it gets dark out." The elevator doors closed, sending him down towards the base of the tower.

Harry turned back towards the view, intent on taking it in one last time. A shift from one leg to the other reminded him that Sara was still leaning on his shoulder as she took in the view as well. He turned his head to subtly look at her only to realize that she was facing him full on like a cat watches a mouse. She pushed his shoulder lightly, prompting him to fully turn towards her as she leaned in and gave him another one of her full body hugs. He heard her inhale deeply as she pressed her face into his neck, her hand playing with his hair. "You did great today Harry" she whispered before angling her head up and giving him a light kiss on the corner of his mouth. She let go of the stunned wizard, proud that she could leave him in such a state. "You heard Scott. Hurry up come back down so we can go. I'll see you down there." She walked slowly back towards the elevator, an extra sway in her hips. She could practically feel the wizard watching her every movement as she walked, bringing a thrill to her. She was almost disappointed when the elevator doors closed, leaving her alone again.

Harry sighed heavily as he looked around the room one last time. "Bloody hell" he muttered to himself as he reached down to adjust a growing problem. He turned on the spot and disappeared from the room with a *pop*.

XXXXX

"I can't even begin to tell you guys how proud I am of how well you've done in the last few days" Scott said as he looked at his ground team as they gathered around the meeting table in the Nomad. "We kicked ass and booted those bastards right off of this planet!" PeeBee cheered, unable to help but get pumped up. Drack slammed his fists together as Liam and Harry shared a high five. Cora, Sara, and Vetra all just rolled their eyes at the others' reactions. Scott continued on once everyone calmed down. "We just have one more job to do before we leave this planet and move on to where the map in the vault pointed us to. We'll get up early to finish up and be on our way by noon local time. So everyone get some rest now while we have a moment." The meeting broke as everyone went their own ways, intent on getting a little personal time before they passed out for the night.

Harry left the ship, walking across the cooling desert to climb on top of a rocky outcrop. He was still within the boundaries of the colony, allowing him to concentrate on his work without fearing being set upon by the local wildlife. He placed a large book in his lap. It was gigantic, two feet by two feet in size with a thick leather cover. The design on the outside of it was a circle with multiple lines running across it both horizontally and vertically in a grid like pattern. Opening the book, the first page showed what obviously was Earth, two circles showing its hemispheres drawn in detail. Its continents were easy to identify as multiple lines criss crossed it at seemingly random places, sometimes having multiple lines meet together at different spots. Notes were made for each of these meeting points, with more in depth explanations added on the next few pages. Harry moved through the book to the first blank page. He pulled out a quill from inside the binding, raising it to prepare to write. His wand appeared in his other hand, casting an intricate spell that he had spent months perfecting. A globe made of white lights began to appear in front of him, slowly spinning on its axis. He immediately began to copy it's details down onto the book, small bodies of water dotting one large planet covering land mass this time. The penmanship and style matching the previous entry for the Earth perfectly. A second muttered incantation and wand wave caused blue lines to slowly stretch around the globe, a significant amount less than what was shown on Earth. The wizard recorded this diligently before closing the book, shrinking it, and placing it back in his pouch.

He jumped down from the rock and slowly made his way back to the ship, enjoying the night air too much to want it to end. He frowned as another earthquake passed under his feet. He could hear the prefab shelters in the distance as they vibrated from the ground movement. The tremors seemed to be happening more and more frequently over the last few hours. He hoped it wasn't a sign of things to come.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Leaving It Better Than You Found It

"Damn it Harry! I get you don't like the mission, but we need to get it done. Can I depend on you or not?" Scott was at his wits end, having listened to his friend complain the entire drive up to the plateau.

"That's not what I'm saying. And of course I'll back you up! When have I ever given you reason to think otherwise?" Harry tried to defend himself, affronted at the insinuation that he would cut and run. "Look, you've been inside the ship that is made to absorb shocks last night. I was outside for a good portion of it and I felt earthquakes every few hours. If it's that damn unstable around here then how is it a good idea to use maw hammers to shake up things even more? Even if the scientists are ok with it, we could end up pissing off someone else if we make it worse."

Ryder paused for a moment, the Nomad slowing to a halt as he really considered the wizard's warning. "I agree with you on this Harry, but we can't simply not do anything whether we like it or not. The lakes will support the beginning expansion of the colony, but we need a way to tap into the groundwater to be able to settle the actual amount of colonists that we want to unthaw. We're on a time limit for how long the Nexus can survive without new resources coming in and this is our best option right now. Let's go about this carefully and watch for what happens after the first hammer drops. If nothing too bad occurs, we continue the mission. Good enough?"

"Yeah, that works for me." Harry slumped back down into the front seat, still unhappy with the outcome but knowing there wasn't a better option at the moment.

"Good" Sara commented from the back seat before punching both men hard enough in the shoulders to leave bruises. "Now get moving. You're not the one sitting close enough to a snoring krogan to feel the breeze." Harry chuckled as he glanced back into the cargo bay. The wizard had experienced a moment of caffeine induced clarity that morning, casting a space enlargement charm secured with runes in the cargo bay of the Nomad and strung up a few hammocks in the larger space. Scott had decided to just have Sara and Harry accompany him for the mission, having the rest of the crew finish coordinating with the colony so they could dust off immediately upon the team's return. Drack had seen the wizard finishing his modifications to the Nomad and had insisted on accompanying them. The krogan had lasted all of two minutes in the ride before passing out in one of the hammocks, snoring loud enough to wake the dead.

"We're here" Scott said, cutting the engine and jumping out of the Nomad. He stared at his omnitool while walking forwards before stopping and carving a large X in the ground with his boot. "Let's start unpacking and get this done quick" he ordered as he climbed on top of the tank, starting to unwrap the first of three bundles that had been put up there this morning by the colony's science team. Sara and Harry shared an eye roll and a smile at the Pathfinder's attempt at leadership before joining him in unpacking and moving the equipment. The hammer proved a pain in the ass to set up for the three of them, Harry and Scott strained to hold the man hammer upright while Sara attached the support structure as fast as she could.

The strain became too much for the two men near the twenty minute mark though, the hammer leaning far enough over to strain the supports enough for one of them to snap. Sara joined the boys in forcing the hammer back upright, the three of them watching in dismay as one of the main poles arced through the air before sailing over the cliff side out of view. Harry watched for a moment before holding his hand out to towards the cliff while mentally willing the pipe to come back. He felt his magic flow in his veins before a low whistling sound could be heard from far away. "You guys should run now" he commented, straining heavily as he was forced to hold the hammer by himself as the twins heeded his word and dived into the sand away from him. The whistling grew louder and higher in pitch until a metallic clang was heard as the pipe flew towards him and speared a foot deep into the hammer. The twins scrambling to their feet and rushing to help the wizard again as the force of the pipe impact almost knocked the entire structure over. Harry grinned at Scott as they pried the ruined pipe loose before he pulled out his wand and cast two quick _reparos_ and they returned to finish the build.

"You mean to tell me that you could have just waved your stick and put this together on it's own without us going through this?" Sara asked with a disgruntled look.

"Nope" Harry said with a grin as he watched Scott activate the hammer, the impact jarring his legs. He frowned at the continuing earthquake, waiting almost a full minute before it's intensity lowered back down to nothing again. "That was just a repair charm to fix broken stuff. Building something from scratch requires a different spell and an intimate knowledge of how it's already put together or who knows what you'll get." The ground began to vibrate again before two remnant observers and an assembler pulled themselves from the sand. Their lights flashing an angry red as they turned to face who ever had disturbed their slumber. Sara and Scott engaged the two observers, the twins working like a well oiled machine as they biotically ground their enemies into dust. The assembler fired its weapons at Harry, prompting the wizard to scramble for cover behind the Nomad. Once the machine lost its line of sight, it froze for a moment before belching out a block of metal that quickly reformed into a breacher. Harry didn't give them a moment to re engage, dropping the assembler's shield with a full clip from his rifle before banishing the approaching lobster like breacher back at it's creator. The two machines collided, the breacher vanishing in a ball of flame along with the assembler's main body. The two long legs stayed comically upright for a moment before being claimed by gravity and pitching over on their sides.

"Were you always able to push and pull things with just a wave of your hand" Scott asked curiously as they climbed back into the Nomad to continue on to the second objective. Drack hasn't woken up through the entire battle, the krogan content to finally catch up on the sleep he had been missing for months.

Harry shrugged as he watched remnant structures that poked out of the sand go flying by as the Nomad kicked up a sand trail as it roared along. "I once summoned a broom from a few football fields away when I was fourteen. Nothing as heavy as that pipe though. Banishing stuff isn't as big a deal until you need to aim it, then it gets tougher."

"We'll have to find a stretch of dessert later and test what you can do" Sara said as she climbed out of the vehicle. Truth be told, she was curious to see what her friend was capable of.

The team moved towards the second location, Scott and Sara using biotics to hold the crate while Harry provided cover. Turning the corner into a small canyon they found their way blocked by a small basecamp occupied by three armed men. The men all stood at the sight of their company, but made no sudden moves towards their weapons. One of them walked towards the trio, hands held out at his sides in a peace gesture. "Pathfinder" he greeted with a nod, "I'm Chuck. We heard you were active out here and figured that you'd find us if we set up our base in an obvious area."

"You seem to have me at a disadvantage" Scott commented as he moved forwards while Harry and Sara hung back a few feet by the crate. "I didn't expect to find any cordial exiles this far out in the desert, especially this close to the where the kett's main base for the planet used to sit."

The man's eyes narrowed in anger at Ryder's observation, before he visibly calmed himself, making sure to speak in a collected voice. "We didn't join the exiles when they rebelled against the Initiative. But at the same time we refused to be placed back in a cryosleep that there was no guarantee that we ever could wake up from. We came here to start a new life and that's what we chose to do. We left and formed the independent nation of Advent. The capital is in a cave system a few hundred miles south of here containing thousands of people. Normally we wouldn't be welcoming of the Initiative's presence here but we know we have you to thank for clearing the skies and letting us really start to live again. Can you tell us what exactly you are looking for out here with that equipment?" He motioned for the three to join his men in the shade, offering them cups of water as they joined him inside the camp.

Scott gestured with his cup towards the crate. "We're looking for the same thing you just offered." The man frowned but let the Pathfinder continue on. "Those lakes won't support too many people, so we're using the krogan maw hammers to systemically locate where the under ground water table is so we can pull from it."

"Crap" Chuck muttered as he stood up, pacing nervously as he considered the team. "The problem is that if you draw from the table then it'll make the wells we already dug useless. We burned out our equipment digging the ones we have now." He turned back towards Scott with a hopeful look in his eyes. "We've spent the last year surveying hundreds of miles of this rock and know where most everything is located. How about we point you to a huge deposit of natural gas instead. You drill that up, and we can trade you for water instead."

"I don't see how that can work either" Sara commented from her seat next to Harry. "That offer is viable for something the size of the initial colony but restricts growth way too much."

Scott her a look, practically screaming 'SHUT UP' in twinspeak. Her eyes flashed to his, showing she got the message before clamming up and sitting down again. He turned back towards the men who now started to look desperate, the options for their colony swiftly running out. "Neither of those options are viable now that your nation has been made known." He continued on, grateful that the men had calmed down and now looked at him with hope. "We're going to finish using the hammers because we need to map out the rivers either way, but no drilling will be done until an agreement can be made. I need you guys to gather up your camp and head down to Pondromos and wait for us. We'll have a meeting with the mayor August Bradley and his team to reach a compromise." He smiled as the men thanked him and began to move, before grabbing their attention again. "Are there any other nations, colonies, or bands of people out there that we should know about? I feel like they should have reps there too if were going to discuss the future of this planet."

Chuck conferred with his team for a moment before turning back to Scott. "We know of at least three other groups, none as big as Advent though. We'll put the word out and have them send reps as well."

"Works for me" the Pathfinder said with an easy smile, signalling Harry and Sara to grab the crate. "I'll see you at the colony later on. We need to finish our mission." The trio headed out, the second pylon setting up in barely any time as they each knew their assigned tasks this time. The shaking lasted for over three minutes this time after the hammer crashed into the ground and double the remnant surfaced to find the cause of the disturbance. They were still handled with minimal effort, but Harry was beginning to grow uneasy.

"I don't think we should use the third hammer" he said as Scott started driving again. "Chuck said they already had the water table mapped. We're just recreating the same work at this point and you know those quakes aren't natural. I don't want to see what will show up after the next strike."

"Sorry Harry, but we have to use the third hammer" Sara apologized, beating her brother to the punch by a half second. "There's no knowing if the others will be willing to share the information, let alone all of it. If we're going to negotiate from a equal position, then this has to be done." She leaned forwards, her arms circling over his shoulders to give him a quick squeeze. "Don't worry, I'm here to protect you if anything bad happens."

Scott snorted as they parked outside a large set of remnant ruins, the rest of the path needing to be traversed on foot. "Right…" he drawled as he stared back at his sister, "You'll need to protect the teleporter. That reminds me Harry," he said turning back towards the wizard. "Can we get another set of those keys incase we need a quick escape again?"

"Keys?" Sara echoed in confusion, feeling like she had missed something big. "Why would keys help us here?"

"Trust me" Scott assured her, handing her one of the bands the wizard had supplied him with while stowing the other one in a pocket on his armor. "Just say the name of our tank and you'll be magically be brought back to it." His face flushed green for a second as he remembered the trip last time. "When it happens, for the love of god don't struggle. It'll end badly." He ignored her confused look as he joined Harry in lugging the last box of equipment into the forest of remnant ruins.

"Should we have brought Drack with us?" Sara questioned the boys as they worked to set the hammer up. "He'll probably be pissed that we let him sleep for the whole mission."

"His grumpy, scaly ass needed the rest" Harry scoffed as they put the finishing touches on the krogan equipment. "Besides," he said as Scott readied the hammer's controls, "This has been boring as hell so far. He isn't missing anything." The Pathfinder slammed his hand down on the activation button, the piston driving itself down into the ground. The shaking was so bad that some of the weaker remnant towers began to slowly crumble into themselves as the team struggled to stay on their feet. The wizard watched in horror as the ground began to crack around the base of the hammer, the equipment began to sink into the dirt as it became unstable. "Use the portkeys now!" he shouted as he scrambled backwards from the pit that was forming in front of him.

Sara watched Scott grab the loop in his hand before shouting "Nomad!" He disappeared in a flash of light and a whoosh of air, his eyes locked on her before he vanished. She quickly followed suit, grasping the loop and activating it. She was immediately enveloped in a whirlwind, her body buffeted in random directions as she was pulled along at a point right above her belly button by an unseen force. She lasted for only a few seconds before she began to scream and kick, flailing desperately as she tried to control her fall. Scott found himself landing a few feet in front of the familiar tank, his feet lightly touching down in the sand. 'That was so much better this time around!' he silently preened to himself. Less than a second later his sister crashed into him as she flew out of a random opening in space/time, bowling them the both over and sending them crashing into the sand in a pile of limbs. He groaned as he felt her plant an elbow in his stomach as she leveraged herself up. "You struggled didn't you?" he asked her in exasperation. "I told you not to." Sara was too busy trying not to puke to listen to her brother bitch at her over something stupid.

They were joined by Harry as he apparated in next to them. The twins approached him, noticing that the wizard kept his eyes on the ever growing pitt in front of them. Half of the ruins had already been swallowed up at that point. "Guys, there's something at the center of that sinkhole" he warned them in a low voice. "I saw something metallic that was at least the size of the Tempest poking out of the center of it." He was interrupted from saying anything else as a deafening metallic screech filled the air. A metal snake like head the size of a school bus slowly rose out of the sand, its mouth glowing blue from an energy source inside of it. Attached to the back of the head were three long tails, each the length of a frigate, that slowly pushed the metallic being into the air as it slowly flew in a tight circle as it gained altitude before effortlessly gliding off towards another grouping of ruins in the distance.

"Let's go" Scott said, indicating that they should follow after the behemoth. He was met with two incredulous stares from his sister and his friend, frustrating him to no end. "Its remnant! That's obvious enough. What do you think it'll do once it discovers something besides it's builders living on this planet?! It'll go over to Pondromos and slaughter them! We have to stop it." He didn't wait for an answer, hurling himself down the slight hill after the it. He smiled in relief as he heard the others running behind him, working even harder to keep up.

The snake continued to circle over the sight until it noticed their approach. It quickly scanned them before coming down to land, its three tails driving into the earth to steady itself as it's head began to bob and weave. It opened fire on them the moment they came with in range. An energy machine gun that could have belonged on the side a starship rained plasma down towards them, forcing them to split in multiple directions, each seeking some form of cover. "Pathfinder. It's legs seem to be it's weak points at the moment. Please aim for the exhaust ports visible on them." SAM's instructions were like a the voice of an angel to the beligured fighters.

"Right!" Ryder agreed as he leaned around cover, aiming for the closest leg. "Everyone choose a leg and start lighting it up!" Sara immediately jumped into the open, firing wildly at the second leg before launching her signature biotic attack as her clip ran dry. She threw herself back into cover as the snake began firing at her, it's shots alternating between her and Scott as it worked to keep them suppressed. Harry watched the fight for a moment, trying to discern some kind of pattern before apparating towards the far leg. He appeared a few feet away from it, looking up to find himself staring into the glowing red eyes of the head a few dozen feet away from him. No help would be coming for him as he watched the twins get trapped in battles with remnant machines that seemed to form from the snake itself.

The creature had swung around the moment it felt the energy usage behind it that reminded it so much of its creators. To its surprise and anger it only saw another of the foreign interlopers its programing instructed to cleanse from the planet. It raised its head again into the air, another metallic screech almost deafening the twins as it raised the leg closest to the wizard high into the air. The leg began it's slow arc to come crashing down on the wizard, Harry having barely noticed this as he was able to clearly hear what the machine said this time as it screeched. **"Interlopers! Trespassers! You will leave this planet at once!"**

Harry panicked as the leg closed in. He reached out with his magic, the leg coming to a halt a few meters above his head as he barely held it in place. "Stop!" the wizard cried out in parseltongue, his magic carrying his voice far enough to be heard across the battlefield. The pressure lifted as the leg was drawn away from him and placed back into the sand.

The head lowered to examine him closer this time. A heavy scanner swept over him multiple times before the head drew back in disgust. " **Who are you to use my creators language and energy like it is your own? You look exactly like the other trespassers but I can see the energy running through you."**

Harry was at a loss for words as he wracked his brain for an answer before he remembered what he and SAM had discussed in the control room of the installation back when they had activated the vault. "Tell me, are you in contact with the control room in the vault of this planet?" he questioned in parseltongue.

" **I am in contact with the main facility"** the snake confirmed. " **I came back online after the creators activated the facility one lunar cycle ago. What does your inquiry have to do with your identification?"**

Harry gulped, watching the laser slowly charge as it tracked him while the snakes head continued to bob and weave. "My name is Harry, and I'm an explorer. It was our people who activated the vault to help fix the planet. Your creators haven't been seen in this part of the galaxy for hundreds of years from what we can tell, but we wish to continue their work" he said with much more confidence in his voice than he was truly feeling at the moment.

The eyes of the snake flashed for a moment before it lowered its head to rest on top of the sand. " **Access to planetary resources confirmed for Harry, Designation: Explorer. Awaiting further instructions."**

"Mr Potter," he heard SAM's voice as his omnitool lit up, "Might I make a suggestion that you ask it to expose its processing core? Scott is currently in route to your position to give me access to allow me to put it in standby mode."

Harry shrugged, "Works for me." He nodded to Scott as the Pathfinder came to a stop next to him, wheezing heavily as he tried to catch his breath. "Give us access to your core" he hissed, his friend shivering from hearing the unnatural language. "Your code is in need of updates to let you function correctly."

" **Compliance…** " the snake hissed before its head split into four sections, the pieces drawing back to reveal its data core surrounded by a blue energy field of an alien design. Ryder slowly raised his arm up, the omnitool glowing orange as SAM began the process. Orange bits of holograph seemed to crumble off of Scott's omnitool before flowing towards the remnant data core. The snake's core flashed orange for a moment before returning to its original color, the head sealing back up as Scott lowered his arm. " **Input received** " the snake rumbled, raising back up onto it's standing position again. " **Executing primary mission.** " The mammoth remnant machine pushed off the ground as it circled back into the sky again. It didn't stop this time, continuing upwards until it was out of sight in the atmosphere.

"What did you do SAM?" Sara asked in awe as she tracked the snake, her head craning as it flew away. The three of them gathered around Ryder's omnitool, intent on getting a full explanation of what just occurred.

The AI's holographic body displayed itself above Ryder's arm, giving the three something to focus on. The image flashed with orange light with each word it spoke. "Thanks to Mr. Potter's help I was able to access the AI's friend or foe file and add the Milky Way races into it. There should be no more attacks from the creature as long as it's primary mission of maintaining the planet is uninterrupted. Interference will have the individual changed from friend to foe until the threat is neutralized."

"Nice work SAM" Harry said, before whistling at the sinkhole that had been created. It looked like half of the hill had collapsed in on itself. "I can't help but wonder just what the point of creating something so huge was though. The little ones are great for security and maintenance, but that big guy just seems like overkill to me."

"You are partially correct Mr Potter" SAM informed him as they began the long walk back to the Nomad. "The smaller remnant were made for maintenance, security, and observation rolls. The large one that you just interacted with was designated as the Architect for the planet. It's creators would drop them on what the initiative has classified as golden worlds with a store of building materials and they would be responsible for excavating and creating the vaults that were necessary for terraforming. Once the initial build process was complete the architects were put in stand by until the vault was activated where their new purpose was to protect, monitor, and correct the vaults work as needed."

"Fuck…" Harry muttered as he walked, a far away look in his eyes. He regarded the questioning looks of his teammates with exasperation. "You don't really think that is the only vault in this sector do you? We had identified at least seven golden worlds from an entirely different galaxy."

"And each of them will probably have a vault as well if their situation is anything like Eos and Habitat 7 turned out to be…" Scott said, continuing the thought process as the dots started to connect in his head.

Sarah gasped as the obvious conclusion came to her. "But that means one of those architects will be on each world too!"

"At least one of them, considering that some vaults might have needed to be larger than is practical for only one architect to build" the wizard confirmed grimly. "I don't know if you guys realized it yet, but we got lucky with this one. SAM and I found the actual control room for the vault and he put my name and designation in the database. That's the only reason the damn thing stopped short of turning me into paste. There's no guarantee that we'll find the same set up in any other vaults, meaning to access the logic core we'll have to fight it long enough to bust the head open."

Scott groaned at that news, knowing that his team would be responsible for taming on the architects as part of his mission for 'taming the planets'. "We need to find more pathfinders" he mumbled as he reached for the driver's side door, only to stop as an evil grin slid across his face. "So who gets to tell Drack that he just missed the biggest fight on this planet?"

The Ryder twins shared a look before shouting in unison "1,2,3, Not It!"

Harry stood still, unable to process the complete betrayal he had just experienced.  
"So its like that" he said lowly as he buckled himself in, his hair hanging over his eyes. Scott wasn't enjoying the vibe in the tank. He seriously reconsidered his order, thinking he would bite the bullet himself before a twisted grin stretched across Harry's face that made the Pathfinder's blood run cold. "Hey Drax!" the wizard shouted while throwing a light banish that sent the krogan swinging wildly.

The krogan woke with a start, snarling as he tried to find the leverage he needed to exit the hammock. The three humans smiled at the sight, a picture of a snapping turtle on its back flashing through all of their minds. "What the hell do you want runt?!" he snarled as he finally overbalanced enough to fall to the ground. The ancient krogan shot to his feet as pawed his hammer, eyes frantically scanning for threats.

"Relax old man!" the wizard teased with a grin, his eyes cutting towards the Pathfinder for a moment. "There isn't any danger now. We're just heading back to Pondromos. I just thought you might like to know that you just missed the battle of your life. Damn remnant was the size of a freakin spaceship." He pointed at Scott with his thumb. "If you have any problems, take them to our leader." The Pathfinder turned pale before flooring it, intent on reaching the colony as quickly as possible. He ignored the krogan's cursing as he was flung towards the back of the cargo bay. That hadn't been planned… not at all.

XXXXX

"You're a dumbass" the wizard said with a straight face, as if he was stating an already known fact such as the sun was hot or water was wet. The leader of the nation of New Guard, a middle aged short woman named Elizabeth gaped like a fish at his audacity. Scott facepalmed, once again questioning why the hell he brought Harry with Sara and himself to the meeting between Pondromos's leaders and the other nations on Eos. Admittedly the meeting had been going nowhere fast. Ryder and Bradley had tried to find common ground with the other representatives, but only Chuck had shown any willingness to negotiate. The other 'ambassadors,' and he used that term loosely, had been content to shout at the Initiative representatives and each other over every slight that had happened in the last year. This had carried over past the two hour mark before the wizard had finally lost his patience.

"Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" the woman asked, enraged at the blatant disrespect. "You invited us here, and now you treat us this way?"

"You're wasting everyone's time with your bullshit" the wizard calmly rebuked her before sweeping his gaze over the others. "You all are. We invited you here to discuss the water situation, not listen to your gripes about why you left the Initiative. We," he indicated Scott, Sara, and himself "weren't even in this galaxy when you went through this. We're trying to help you, but if you don't even want to talk then what the hell are you even doing here?"

Scott grabbed his shoulder, pulling the wizard back into his seat as he leveraged himself up to take advantage of the forced silence. "I'm not Tann" he said. "I'm Scott Ryder the human Pathfinder. I'm not here to represent the Nexus's leadership. I'm supposed to represent all of humanity in this galaxy. That means all of you people as well, whether you're part of the Initiative or not. And considering that the other pathfinders aren't here right now, that means I'm representing all of the others from the Milky Way too." He paused, letting that sink in to the stunned audience. "I'll be on your side if you'll allow it. I don't have control over you, but I can be your advocate if you need one. Earth is composed of over a hundred and fifty nations but they all are represented in the national government. Each of these national governments has a representative in the alliance government. This was what was always meant for Andromeda as well. Take a look at your neighbors" he made sure to make eye contact with each of the beings there. "These are the representatives of the first meeting of the Eos world government. You need to work together if you want to make this happpen. What you do in your own country is your business, but if it affects everyone else then you can be damn sure that we'll need to come to an agreement."

"Thank you Pathfinder" Bradley said as he stood from his seat and walked towards the middle of the room. "I didn't come here to govern anybody. I'm the leader of a colony full of scientists. We're about as dangerous as a hanar in the desert." He allowed the chuckles to end before continuing. "Our purpose though, is to try to figure out as much as we can about this planet as quickly as possible. That way we can bring more colonists down to form their own cities, and god willing, their own nations."

"But that's why we're here in the first place!" Chuck interrupted as he jumped to his feet. "If you mess with the water table than many of our cities won't be able to reach it any more. You'd be either killing us or forcing us to join you. No one will take that laying down" he said as he clenched his fists, the others mumbling angrily behind him.

"We have a new way to drill" Harry piped up from his chair. "We just discovered it today and it'll improve all of your wells so you can be self sufficient." Catching Scott's inquisitive look, he subtly pointed upwards, grinning as his team mate caught on.

"He's right" the pathfinder agreed, "well drilling won't be an issue for anyone here."

"Even if I believed you about this miraculous technology" Elizabeth said, not willing to let the issue go just yet, "what makes you think everyone can settle here? This world can't support that many people. It's not like there's any oceans or huge bodies of water."

"We don't want everyone to settle here" Bradley assured the others, taking back control of the meeting. "But you all left the Nexus for a chance to actually live your lives instead of being put back on ice for who knows how long." Angry cheers confirmed the statement from many of the room's occupants. "We just want to give as many others the same chance that you have. You all know the situation on the Nexus when you left, and it hasn't gotten any better. The Ark Hyperion is here now with twenty thousand more people still mostly frozen to add to the seventy thousand still frozen on the Nexus and the ten thousand unthawed that didn't cut and run. Add in another eighty thousand when the other four Arks arrive and you have a lot of people that need help."

"We're going to find and settle other planets as well" Sara assured them, confident in her brother's abilities. "But this one will be the example of how things can be, good or bad. Forming a government will give you power and a better representation to the Initiative in general." She smiled as she looked at the thoughtful faces, no longer angry by default. "And that's what it's all about people, being self sufficient and self governing right?" Her rhetorical question was met with cheers as the people began to happily discuss amongst themselves, conflict forgotten in the face of growing excitement. Bradley patted her on the shoulder as he walked over to start talking to a few of the others.

"Good job" Scott stage whispered to her as he gestured for them to follow him to the door. "We're heading off to find the next planet to colonize" he shouted to get everyone's attention. "Until we get a better system of communication set up, either email me or go to Bradley if you need a vid call. I'll always try to support you. Drilling for the wells will begin tomorrow morning. Please mark where you want them dug with a large red X. And for the love of god, don't attack the machine or it'll fight back." The trio left the meeting hall, exhausted but with a sense of accomplishment. "Time to get the hell back into space" Scott said as he clapped his hands. "We'll stop by the architect to update it's orders, then head back to the Nexus." The Tempest's running lights lit up the darkness in front of them as they approached, the engines flaring to life.

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Harry stood at the bottom of the loading ramp next to a crate, the sounds of the activity in the Nexus's cargo bay echoing all around him. Kesh stood across from him, her bulk blocking the doors to exit the bay. Neither one moved, each considering what to say to their adversary. Harry acted first, turning and kicking the crate as Kesh tensed her muscles. The side of the crate fell away with a crash, exposing four dark metal kegs that had krogan writing stenciled across them. Kesh took a step forward in excitement at seeing the contents. Her momentum halted a second later at the wizard's warning glare. "Four kegs of Ryncol from Tuchanka, exported to Earth a year before we left the Milky Way" the human explained. "I'm willing to gift them to you for a temporary truce lasting for my time here until the Tempest leaves again. I'll give you one full day of work and then you let me go about my business. Do we have an agreement?"

Kesh snorted, turning around and walking towards the bay doors while beckoning for Harry to follow her. "At least you aren't stupid enough to come back without an apology gift after your last stunt husband. Come along, if I have you for a day then I'm getting my credits worth. You're helping me clear out the VIP quarters that were partially destroyed when the we crashed into the scourge a year ago. No one has even made it back there yet and something tells me that we'll be needing them sooner than later with how active your pathfinder is."

Kesh punched in a code on the tram before settling onto one of the seats. She patted the open chair next to her in invitation. Harry shook his head, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall as he watched the station fly by. A snarl caused him to jump before quickly joining Kesh, taking the seat next to her. The krogan grabbed his arm, lifting it so it would settle around her hump. She sighed contentedly as she leaned into her husband while watching the sights out the front window of the tram.

XXXXX

"Damn it woman! How much longer is this going to take? We've been at it for over ten hours already." Harry was growing frustrated as his deal with the Kesh was being abused in his eyes. He hasn't even gotten a break for lunch as he cleared the debris in rooms, repairing walls and ceilings. Kesh had insisted in hand feeding him while he worked, causing an already bad situation to become downright uncomfortable. The wizard just thanked Merlin that he hadn't had to deal with any areas exposed to space yet.

"Shut up you pathetic excuse for a male." the krogan ordered as she worked to unlock the door in front of her. "You should feel damn lucky that I'm giving you my time so readily. You have no idea what krogan males have to go through to get a female to be willing to mate with them back on Tuchanka." The door had been locked with some kind of special program making it far more… wait… that did it. The door hissed partially open, Kesh forcing it the rest of the way with a grunt of exertion. "This is the last room and you're free lover boy" she said, gesturing towards the mess behind the door. "After that, we're going to get cleaned up and you're taking me out to dinner."

The wizard stepped forward, an overpowered _repario_ spell already on his lips. He was eager to finish up his side of the deal and get some well deserved alcohol. "That wasn't part of our deal" he said as he watched a pipe and some wire float back into the ceiling before the hole patched itself up. He stepped into the room, casting another _reparo_ at the floor to remove the burn marks and gouges in the metal. "I'll take you to the bar and have a drink while you have some of that ryncol though. That's the best offer you're getting from me."

Kesh giggled as she watched him move further into the room, her eyes sweeping over his form as he pushed a ruined couch to the corner of the room to see the damage. "That sounds good to me, but I have to warn you that I get frisky when I'm drunk. It should be a good time…" she said, already daydreaming about what might happen afterwards.

Harry hung his head as he finished patching the floor, a pristine carpet now greeting him and contrasting horribly with the rest of the still damaged room. "Fine" he sighed "I'll take you out for some food. We'll make a date of it" he shuddered as he said it. A gape in the wall caught his attention, lights shining from the darkness beyond. "Kesh" he asked as he moved closer to the suspicious hole, "who lived in this room before now?"

The krogan checked her omnitool before shrugging as she joined him. "It wasn't registered to anyone. It's just another empty living space as far as the records are concerned. What did you find?"

"Stand back" the wizard ordered before taking out his wand and pointing it at the door. " _Alohamora"_ he intoned, a white light impacting the wall before it split into two halves and retracting in themselves. A deep room was revealed, the far wall unable to be seen in the darkness as the only light supplied was cast from the living area outside. The smell was horrible causing Harry to cast a bubble head charm for himself. Kesh snorted at the sign of weakness before walking over and examining two human male bodies that were slumped against the wall. Even though the remains had clearly begun to mummify, the cause of death was easily identifiable as gunshot wounds could be seen punctured into their hard suits. Harry noticed a black, flakey smear on the ground that lead into the darkness. Casting a quick " _Lumos_ " he slowly made his way to the back, following what could only be a blood trail. It lead to a white hibernation pod in the corner of the room. The pod still had flashing lights showing it was powered, and the readout on it's side showed the occupant was alive. Harry peered through the window of the pod, seeing a middle aged, dark haired woman that looked strangely familiar. The woman's face was locked in a grimace as she was frozen. She was slightly curled up as her hands cradled her stomach. Frozen blood could be seen on her shirt around where her hands were pressed. "Kesh!" Harry whispered, not sure why he was being quiet, only that it seemed appropriate. "Get back here now! I need you to tell me who this is."

A loud clang followed by some low cursing was heard as the krogan fumbled her way in the darkness towards the light source. "What the hell is the damn rush?" She paused as she saw what had caught the wizard's attention. The krogan checked the readings herself before leaning forward to see the occupant. She drew back with a hiss, her eyes narrowing to pin pricks as her breathing grew labored. "What the hell is going on Harry? That's Jien fucking Garson inside of that cryopod!"

 **A/N: Finally done with Eos. Only 6ish planets left along with various random crap mixed in**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Different Shit, Same Day

She woke up with a start, her breath puffing in front of her like a like a cloud of fog. She lay there confused for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts as she observed that she was still inside of a closed tube. Her last memories were being shot multiple times in the stomach by that asshole before dragging herself to the hibernation pod she had hidden in the back of her room. Her fingers brushed over her stomach, only to find smooth flesh where there shouldn't be. In fact, she seemed to be missing her entire top, a bra the only thing still retaining her modesty. She shivered violently, her arms pulling across her chest to grab her shoulders and retain what little heat she might still have left. Panic began to set in as she realized she was trapped.

"Shit!" she heard a man's voice, though it sounded like it was coming from far away. "You weren't supposed to wake up yet! Why the hell are these readings spiking…" Silence returned, much more oppressive this time. She lay there shivering for what felt like hours before a warm feeling washed over her, bringing her shivers to a halt. A layer of frost still clung to her clothes as well as the surface of the chamber, confusing her even more to why she wasn't near frozen as well. "Can you hear me?" the man's voice came back from the fog. "If you can, knock twice on the roof of the cryotube." Her arm flew to the top of the chamber, bruising her fist with the force that she knocked. "Here's the deal" she heard, "The controls to open the pod look like they're damaged by gunfire, and they won't open right now. We can either wait for someone to fix it, or I can cut off the top of the tube and get you out now. Knock once if you want to wait for a professional or twice if you want me to get you out quick."

She considered her options, not at all assured by the individual all but admitting that he wasn't a trained professional. 'Fuck it' she decided, giving two quick taps. There was no way she was staying in here any longer than she had to.

"Ok!" the man sounded excited. "Lay as flat as you can and don't move. This'll be quick, but pretty flashy. Close your eyes!" She turned her head to the side, forcing her eyes shut as tight as possible. She held her breath as the man counted down. "Three! Two! One and a three quarters! One and a Half!" She slammed her hand against the side of the tube in frustration. A high pitched whine could be briefly heard before a crash sounded to her right. She felt the familiar breeze of recycled air hit her face from the vent in the ceiling, bringing a soft smile to her face as she slowly inhaled deeply and opened her eyes. The entire top half of her pod was gone, the view replaced by a handsome young man with angular features, black hair, and the most vivid green eyes she had ever seen standing over her. "Welcome back Ms Garson" he said with a soft smile as he reached down, offering her his hand.

"My friends call me Jien" she said as she took hold of the offered hand, allowing it to pull her up and assist her on climbing down to the deck. "Considering you seemed to have just saved me I'm pretty sure you fall in that category now." She squinted her eyes at him as she tried to recall if she had seen him on the human manifest before the trip began. "Who are you anyways?" she asked as she examined him. Features like his would be tough to forget. "I don't think I've ever met you before."

The man gave a roguish smile before bowing at the waist with a flourish of his hand. "It's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance Jien." He pulled off his coat, leaving him in a pair of trousers and an undershirt that fit snugly against his frame. She blushed as she remembered the state of her dress, covering her chest with one arm, before snatching the offered garment and turning her back towards him to put it on. She idly ran her hand over the collar after zipping it up, unable to realize how much it felt like real leather. "That's much better" he said, regaining her attention. "As for my name, it's Harry…"

"POTTER!" Kesh roared as she charged back into the room, the Ryder twins and Dr. Lexi T'Perro close on her heels. They all stopped up short as they saw Harry standing next to a fully revived Jien Garson, the woman half hiding behind the wizard from the sudden noise. "You were just supposed to watch her while I went and got help Harry…" Kesh explained slowly, as if to a child. "How did that turn into you bringing her back to consciousness and removing her from the pod?"

Harry panicked as he watched the rage start to build in the krogan, slowly backing away from her towards the far wall as he tried to explain. "I just cast a diagnostic on her to see what the damage was, I swear! Then the pod started sparking and a voice said the wake up sequence had started. I healed her as well as I could before she thawed and started to bleed again, but the pod wouldn't open. I got her permission first, then opened it up by removing the top of it and let her out. You showed up right after and that's all I know." He took a big breath, trying to recover from his panicked debriefing.

Jien nodded in agreement, the series of events matching what she had experienced as well. A few details like how he healed her while she remained in the pod still confused her though. The asari doctor pulled her to the side, running her omnitool along her patient's body as she checked for the damage that Kesh had mentioned earlier.

Said krogan seemed to calm slightly as the wizard's explanation offered a plausible reason for what had happened. Then her eyes trailed to her boss before flying back towards Harry again. "Husband?" she asked as her teeth began to grit in rage, her breathing getting deeper as she lowered herself in preparation for a charge. "If that's all true… THEN WHY IS SHE WEARING YOUR CLOTHES!?"

"Oh fuck…" the wizard exclaimed as his self proclaimed wife came straight for him, fury clouding her rational thought process. One second he was there, then he turned in place and vanished with a loud *Crack* that seemed to echo around the small room.

"I hate it when he does that…" Kesh growled as she stalked towards the door to the hallway. "We'll catch up later Jien" she called over her shoulder as she walked out. "I've got to have a talk with a certain someone…" they heard before the door hissed shut.

Jien just watched everything happen in confusion, unable to understand why her station superintendent was acting so out of character from the gruff, level headed krogan female she had hired initially. "I didn't know biotics could do that! Where did he just go? Should we help him?" she asked the others, feeling a little concerned for the strange young man who had saved her. It seemed like this had all been a giant misunderstanding. "What happens if the other krogan get involved? And where is your father the Pathfinder? I expected him to be here if the Hyperion had arrived."

Sara looked away, unwilling to confront the subject of her father's death yet. The memories still felt too fresh for her. It was easy to forget about when she was active and moving, but down time made her have to confront everything that she had been keeping buried. Scott pulled her into a one-armed hug, allowing her to compose himself before addressing his confused boss. "Harry is fine Ms. Garson, he's like a cockroach. Every time you think he's about to get squashed, he'll turn up alive and well a little bit later as if it never happened. He's likely at the bar, or on board the Tempest right now. As for the Pathfinder, we have a lot that we need to update you on. It's been at least a year since you were refrozen, and there's been a lot of changes. Not many of them are all that good."

XXXX

Harry sat in the corner booth at the back of the bar, nursing his drink as he watched the Ryder twins lean on each other as they sang 'Don't Stop Believin' by Journey up on the karaoke stage. His omnitool was recording the event while sending a live feed back to Kallo, Gil, and Suvi back on the Tempest. A heavy snore came from his right, prompting the wizard to give Kesh a light kick in the side. The krogan grumbled in her sleep, passed out on the bar floor while the empty ryncol keg acted as a pillow for her head.

"So… Magic huh?" he heard, causing him to look up as Jien slipped into the seat across from him in the booth. A subtle twist of his wrist had his wand in his hand under the table, and a privacy charm cast a second later. He tried to give her his lost/confused look as he stowed his wand back in his holster, only for her to snort in laughter. "That was the worst deflection attempt I've ever seen!" she said between breaths as she tried to regain control. "And I've seen krogans try to cute their way out of issues, her included" she said while pointing at Kesh. "The twin's filled me in on everything with the Ark Hyperion and Pondromos. I'm waiting for Addison to meet me here to catch me up on the Nexus before I go to meet Tan." She leaned forward onto the table, her hands locking under her chin as she stared at the wizard across from her. "You are something I never could have planned for though when we started this journey. Your secret won't last much longer as you use your powers to perform extraordinary feats like you did in bringing me back. So I want you to tell me now, what do you want? Why come on this journey and what are you looking to accomplish? All of us had a hope or dream powerful enough to make us cross dark space to a new galaxy. I want to know what you are looking for and if we can help you achieve it in repayment for all that you have done so far."

Harry whistled as he leaned back in his seat, silently regarding the woman who sat across from him that had given such an impromptu passionate speech. "I saw you once at one of your investor meetings back on Luna. You wouldn't remember me, I was just serving drinks at the bar in the back corner of the hall. I loved how you had all of them eating out of the palm of your hand by the end of it just with your words and gestures. It also lit a fire under me as well. I needed something new so I decided to join the adventure and see what Andromeda had to offer. Eventually I'd like to find a planet I can make my home on, but for now I'm just going where I'm needed. Right now, that's with those two" he said, gesturing to the twins who were currently into the second verse of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by Queen. A group of asari and turians had gathered on the dance floor, cheering the twins on as they acted out the song on stage while singing.

Jien simply nodded, as if he had just confirmed what she already knew. "Then I have a request that I'd like to make if you're willing to hear me out." At his nod, she continued on "From what I have heard, we're very close to losing everything from a mix of outside sources and internal strife. I can work on the internal while Scott and his team handle the external. If I need help with something I can't fix on my own though, can I depend on you to be my knight in shining armor again like when you rescued me earlier?"

The wizard snorted, amazed that she had the gall to word her request like that. "I'm always willing to help out when I can, but I intend to keep my morality as intact as possible. You can always ask, but I'm not giving an open ended promise that I'll help with every issue if I don't agree with it. And as for a knight in shining armor, I'm pretty sure they wake maidens with kisses. You were trapped in a tube where I couldn't have even made the attempt."

A coy smile was given at his blatant flirt. "We'll see about you finishing your job and waking me the right way some other time." She frowned in thought. "There's so much I have to fix after everything that has happened this last year. People came here on a dream and got nothing but a nightmare. I don't understand how it could have gone so bad so fast."

Harry gave her hand a squeeze over the table, calming her down from the touch. "Just remember, you aren't alone in this. Everyone needs to step up to make it work, not just sit back and wait for someone else to fix it. Don't let them walk all over you and take advantage. Not that I expect many to try with your friend here at your back" he indicated to Kesh, who was still on the floor. He saw Addison make her way into the bar and approach Jien from behind, a look of pure joy on her face. Deciding to end the conversation on a high note, he canceled the privacy charm before letting go of her hand and pulling on the sleeve of the jacket she still wore. "So when do I get my jacket back? You should have had plenty of time to change since you woke up."

She slapped his hand away, turning her nose in the air as if she was too high class to deal with the likes of him. "You stole my shirt and left me in just a bra. Me keeping this makes us even as far as I'm concerned. You can't just make my clothes disappear whenever it's convenient for you" she finished with a smile, proud she got one over on him.

"And on that note, I'm out of here. I'll get in contact with you later Jien. Please kick Kesh awake when you leave." He pushed himself to his feet, grinning at Addison's dumbstruck expression. She obviously had come in at the perfect part of the conversation, and he couldn't have timed it better. Taking her hand, he gave it a quick kiss. "Always a pleasure to see you Ms Addison" he offered as he he swung around her and headed for the door.

"Foster!" Jien was overjoyed to see that one of her close friends was still alive. She stood up, giving Addison a huge hug before pulling her down in the seat next to her. "We have a lot of catching up to do. Would you like a drink?"

Addison grabbed her friend by the shoulders, looking her up and down as if making sure she was the real deal. "Jien, how could you? You didn't even know Harry before today and you're already stealing his clothes and letting him get you out of yours? Have you no decency?!" `

"Honestly Foster. Get your mind out of the damn gutter. We have more important things to worry about." She made a mental note to get Harry back for this. There was no way he hadn't set it up.

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Everywhere on the ship was loud. The cargo bays were frantically loading up for another excursion into the unknown and the rest of the ship mirrored the level of activity as the crew labored to get underway. Harry licked his finger, using the added moisture on the digit to help turn the heavy page of his book to a fresh, blank one. He picked up his ever inking quill, pausing to compose the words in his head before committing them to the page as he tried to describe the magical plants he had encountered in the vault on Eos. A small charm pulled the image from his memory and added it to the bottom half of the page in a vivid illustration, drawing a gasp from behind him. He leaned back in his seat, his head hanging over the back of the chair revealing Suvi as she watched the charm finish coloring in the picture. "Sorry" he apologized as he sat back up, "I just came up here to find some quiet so I could put my thoughts down before they began to fade."

Suvi shook her head rapidly, holding her hands out with a pleading expression before the wizard gave in and handed the book to her. She took a seat next to him as she examined the detail of the picture, before paging through the previous pages of the book. "I can barely understand any of this" she admitted, frustration clear in her voice. "What are you trying to record?"

Harry regained possession of his book, turning to a specific page before flipping it in his lap so it faced her. "This is Eos, as you can see" he said, indicating the detailed black and white picture of the now familiar planet. "These lines traveling over different portions of it are ley lines, streams of magic belonging to the planet that I've been able to detect and record. If you look closely, the vault is located on the only point of the planet where three of the lines come together. It could just be a coincidence, but I'm starting to wonder just how much the masters of the Remnant might have been aware of magic and if they managed to harness it in some way. I want to do the same with any other planets we visit to see if it's just a coincidence, or something bigger." He turned the page to show the tree that had helped save his life during the vault purge. "This is definitely magical and might possibly show some kind of sentience from how I interacted with it. There might be more magical plants and animals out there too. I need to document them as best as I can since I'm the only one capable."

Suvi's eyes lit up as he explained, excitement building in her. "I'll help!" she shouted, before covering her mouth in embarrassment. Kalo looked in their direction from his chair for a moment, before turning back to his console after ensuing there wasn't a cause for alarm. "Sorry Harry" she whispered before he voice began to slowly raise again. "It's just that you're doing what all of us scientists dream of doing. You're exploring a previously unknown field of study that no one has ever tread on before. I pray to God every night that I might get that chance. It's why I joined the Andromeda Initiative. Everything here is new and undiscovered. I'd love to learn about your field of science more as I help you."

"One thing" the wizard said, holding up his index finger at the scientist. "It isn't science, it's a field of magic. If you try to turn it into something that follows the rules of science by applying the laws of physics you won't get anywhere. You need to truly open your mind to unknown possibilities to be useful on this. Can you do that?"

"Easily" Suvi assured him, her excitement not having died down in the slightest. "We used to use the term 'magic' to explain all kinds of things that didn't have scientific reasons throughout human history. Will you be angry with me if I try to find an explanation for it while we work?"

Harry shook his head, his thoughts going back to his best friend Hermione and her refusal to accept magic's explanation as 'it just works that way'. "Have at it if you want. Many great minds have tried over the centuries to classify and quantitate it. The problem is that what they measure is continually in flux and can change from one individual to another, making their previous data invalid. Most have to give up in frustration sooner or later less they risk wasting their whole lives pursuing something no one has ever accomplished."

"I honestly couldn't think of a better way to spend my life than getting lost in the research and data." Suvi said with a soft smile. "That is a real scientist's dream. Even if we don't discover a break through, our steps are recorded and stop someone else from wasting time covering the same tracks. It's a gradual process that takes multiple generations to perfect sometimes." She got up from her chair before pushing Harry's shoulder lightly to get him to scoot over. The wizard grumbled half heartedly as he budged over, giving her enough room to join him in his chair. "Now then" she said as she spread the book across their laps, "Do you have a recording of what these ley lines looked like on Earth so we have something to compare them to?"

Harry pulled another miniature book from his pocket, enlarging it with a wordless spell to her silent delight, before placing it on her lap as he pulled his new book onto his own. "I have it recorded electronically as well, but sometimes the original hardback is better" he explained. Their conversation carried on for hours, Kalo listening with half an ear as he continued his work at the helm.

XXXXXX

"Thank you all for coming" Scott greeted the Tempest crew as he walked up to his position at the round table. "I know this was short notice, but we leave at 0800 tomorrow morning and I wanted to go over the details that we have. We've grown in size from our last mission, but I'm still more than confident in all of your capabilities and know we'll complete the mission no matter what." He paused, noticing that the spot to his right was still empty. "Where the hell is Harry?" he asked in growing alarm. "I thought we agreed it wasn't a good idea to let him wander alone."

A snort from the bottom of the ramp was heard, a mop of black hair appearing as the wizard made his way up to them. "You all agreed to that" the wizard argued as he took his place at the table. "I never agreed to a damn thing. I'm not a little kid who needs to be monitored." He looked back at the ramp in exasperation, ignoring anything else said on the subject. "Are you coming or what?"

The crew gasped as a robotic body slithered into view, its origins clearly Remnant. Scott's hand flew to his holster, only for Harry to catch his arm in a strong grip. The wizard frowned as the robot came to a stop at the table in between Scott and Sara. "You know you just could have said something to ease the tension," Harry said as he frowned at the silent robot. "Who knew A.I.'s were so dramatic about things."

Orange eyes lit up on the blank face mask, bits of digital code seeming to cascade down from them across the rest of the head. "My apologies, Mr. Potter. I needed to see what level of distress my form would cause people who didn't know about the existence of this body. I have decided that it would be in my best interest not to expose it to the rest of the Nexus any time soon."

"SAM?" Scott could barely believe his eyes. Glancing down to his wrist, he felt relieved to still see the familiar orange glow. "Where did you get this body from?" Harry coughed into his hand, causing everyone to slowly turn their heads towards the wizard. "What did you do this time Harry?" The Pathfinder questioned him tiredly. "We never left you alone for more than half an hour while you were awake. You couldn't have had time to do too much."

"This is actually something I recovered from the Eos Vault" the wizard admitted sheepishly. "SAM rescued me after taking the body over and I figured I should save it in case it came in handy again."

The robot's head nodded, "Mr. Potter is correct." The eyes glowed softly with each word spoken. "He informed me after we had reached the Nexus of his possession of the body, asking me if I wanted to still use it. I was against it at first but Mr. Potter made a convincing argument that I could be of more assistance to everyone with my own pair of hands. I am now capable of working with any of the crew that need assistance." PeeBee's hand shot up immediately, the asari visibly biting her lip to contain her excitement at getting to work with a new piece of rem-tech.

"This is going nowhere fast" Sara whispered to Cora, getting a nod in agreement from the blonde. "Can we get back on track?" she asked out loud, interrupting the argument brewing between the Pathfinder and the wizard.

"Fine" Scott said, mentally pulling himself back from the abyss that was Harry. The display over the table lit up, showing an image taken from his omnitool while in the vault of an alien star map. "We received a new set of coordinates while in the Eos Vault that showed a signal being sent to what looks like another vault in a system somewhere north of the Nexus on the star map. We'll be heading in that direction, exploring the stars on the way until we find something. Everyone needs to be available to deploy to a new planet at a moments notice. Make sure your hardsuit and equipment are maintained and prepped to go." He killed the image as he stepped back from the table. "That's it. Keep on top of your ship duties and your free time is your own. We'll do a further briefing when we find what we're looking for."

The meeting broke as the group left to get back to work. PeeBee excitedly pulling SAM towards her workshop she had built in the escape pod. Harry held off from leaving the meeting area, instead wandering over to one of the view ports. He watched as the night shift of the dock workers finished prepping the Nomad for it's excursion, everyone working hard to get their best hope for the future out into space again. 'No pressure' he thought to himself with a sardonic smile before turning and sitting down on one of the couch's lining the wall.

He kicked his omnitool back online, preparing to continue his course on advanced hacking. He had a feeling that it would come in handy in the near future. A weight settling next to him revealed Vetra leaning in to see what he was looking at. She chuckled as she read the screen, prompting him to raise an eyebrow in question. "That is no where near advanced hacking" she explained, booting up her own omnitool. "It's actually only teaching close to basic techniques. I have the next ten courses already loaded up, and I know for a fact that there's dozens more for the real gear heads."

"Fuck…" the wizard sighed in frustration. "I'm already having trouble comprehending this level. You have to understand, the culture I came from was majorly behind in technology since it doesn't play too nicely with magic in general." He laughed at her unbelieving expression, elaborating further. "The newest piece of technology they had was a steam engine." He pulled out and enlarged his old copy of 'Hogwarts: A History' before leafing through the pages to show the moving picture of the famous train.

"Well that's something…" Vetra trailed off, unable to think of a way to keep the conversation going on about such an archaic machine. "Look Harry, if you want I'm willing to teach you what I know about hacking. I'm not anything special, but I know enough to get you used to the subject better than any amount of self study ever could. Syd and I had to learn it fast if we wanted to eat some nights."

"That would be great Vet" Harry said quietly as he shut down his omnitool. He leaned towards her look at her screen as she loaded up the first program. The turnian took advantage of the closeness, throwing his arm over her shoulder before tucking head into the side of his neck. Her fringe poked out over his shoulder, showing in her mind how perfectly they fit together. "Take that" she thought to herself imagining how jealous Cora and Sara would look if they caught her right now. Somehow that made it even better in her mind as she snuggled deeper into the wizard. Harry suppressed his sense of foreboding, doing his best to pay attention to the lecture and not to the close proximity of the teacher next to him. It was going to be a long few hours.

XXXXX

Harry stood in the command center of the Nexus, feeling the ship vibrate around him as it took off towards the unknown. He had joined the rest of the staff in the bridge to watch the lift off, but had quickly grew bored and began to wander again. He watched closely as PeeBee used the research station to take apart a Remnant laser salvaged from an observer while taking notes on her omnitool. The asari nodded to herself as if confirming something before shutting down her wrist computer and heading back to her lab. She gave Harry a high five as she passed, giddy to go build something new.

The wizard smirked at her joy, it being somewhat infectious to everyone around her. A purple glint caught his eye, bringing his attention to the research station. The deconstructed Remnant weapon laid in pieces, a purple, pyramid shaped crystal about the size of a lemon was almost calling to him. He felt his magic roll under his skin as he picked it up, the feeling not unlike when his wand had chosen him at Olivander's shop. Harry channeled the slightest bit of magic into the crystal, watching as it glowed a soft purple. The light cut off as Harry drew his magic back into himself. 'Sweet Merlin! I think I just found a new focus' he realized as he cast a weak lumos while holding the crystal in his wand hand. The light produced was near blinding in intensity, startling the wizard enough to interrupt his cast. Dropping the crystal on the table, Harry quickly cast the same spell wandless, a weak glow appeared, barely bright enough not to get swallowed up in the ambient light of the room.

Harry snatched the crystal up and sprinted towards the back of the cargo bay, leaning over the rail to scan for a suitable test on the bottom level. Spying a wrench, he pointed the crystal and casted the weakest summoning spell he was capable of. Said wrench tore loose of it's belt holder, flying like a bullet at Harry's head. Ducking at the last second, the wizard watched the tools trajectory as it flew directly into the ceiling, jamming itself halfway into the bulkhead. Cursing, he hightailed it back to the command center, calming as he realized that all of the others were still on the bridge. Whistling casually, he pocketed the crystal before making his way towards PeeBee's workshop.

PeeBee was having the best day ever as far as she was concerned. She had already made a breakthrough in remtech weapons that might let her duplicate it for herself one day. Then, to make it even better, Harry voluntarily walked right into her home. She had invited him numerous times, but he had always had a reason to not come. The asari was beginning to think that it might never happen. She would never doubt her favorite human again though as she watched him take out the Remnant crystal she had just finished with and placed it in the middle of her desk. "What can I do for you Harry?" she asked, trying to play it cool and not scare him away like Cora had accused her of in the past.

The wizard looked around her room at what could only be considered controlled chaos before tapping the crystal with his finger. "How does this work with the Remnant" he asked, staring at her intently. She recognized the look of a fellow inventor with an idea trying to force its way out. "How is a laser produced from it and what is the energy source?"

She pushed a pile of junk off of her table, ignoring the resulting crash as she frantically searched for a intact weapon. Finding it, she placed it on her table before prying off the casing to reveal the inner workings to her audience. "The trigger sends a signal to the battery here", she said pointing to a square battery at the back of the gun. "The battery releases a miniscule arc of energy towards the bottom of the crystal where it's amplified before it's released at the tip in whatever direction it's pointing." She silenced herself as she watched her friend's face cycle through expressions as he worked out the next step in his head.

"How many of these do you have?" he asked, hoping for at least a few more to allow him to test. The answer was a large box filled to the brim with the purple wonders kicked in his direction from under the bench. He gave the startled asari a huge hug before grabbing the box and heading back to his tent. He had to write down his thoughts to try to make sense of what his magic was trying to tell him was possible.

Peebee simply stood still, reveling in the feeling of being enveloped in Harry's arms a moment ago. It was like time had ceased to exist as she felt safe and loved. It had been a long time since physical contact with someone else had generated those feelings in her. 'I hope he shares when he figures out whatever that was about' she thought to herself as she turned back to her desk, only to notice the gun was missing too.

 **A/N: Sorry for the delay, lost my outline and had to come up with a one. The story will begin to diverge in some small ways as Jien works to right the sinking ship that the Nexus has become. Other parts will remain close to cannon though. It's not Andromeda without the Archon being a prick. We will also see the birth of a new technology research line, Magical weapons might be coming to Andromeda soon.**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: These Are a Few of My Favorite Things...

"Still nothing?" Kallo asked as he placed the Tempest in orbit around a blue gas giant. It had the most stable atmosphere out of the four planets occupying the current system they were scouting, though hadn't turned up anything special yet. He stood up from his console and stretched for the ceiling until his leg joints popped, relieving the tension that had been built up after sitting in his pilot seat for hours.

Suvi shook her head as she leaned back in her chair, taking a minute to blow one of her orange bangs out of the way that had slid over her eye. "Just a whole lot of nothing. The worst part is that each of these planets has unique things just waiting to be discovered but I only have enough time to scan for a vault before we move on. This is the fifth system we've been to since we started this voyage three weeks ago and I still have yet to see any signs of remnant activity." She lightly smacked the side of her console in frustration before leaning in again to try to find any kind of reading she might have missed before.

Kallo walked over to her console to see if he could help. He gave up a few minutes later, seeing nothing worth mentioning. "You should cheer up Suv" he said, giving her a light shove on the shoulder to break her out of her funk. "You didn't hear it from me, but the Pathfinder asked me to set down on the second planet tomorrow for all of us to head out on the surface for a bit. Maybe you can take the opportunity to do a little bit more through of a search and take some samples while were there." He walked back to his console, projecting its display on the main view port of the bridge. Enlarging the view of the solar system, he zoomed the view in a barren, rocky planet about the same size of earth. Gesturing to a spot on the equator in a valley between two mountain ranges, he smiled to his fellow bridge crewmate. "Same gravity as earth, but no atmosphere so hardsuit required."

"I can't wait!" Suvi clapped her hands in excitement, standing up swiftly from her seat. "I have so much to prepare for before we land! I have to get sample containers ready, along with asking a few people to help carry them. I don't even know if I'll have enough time while working all through tonight." She headed out the door towards the rest of the ship while still talking to herself.

Kallo chuckled to himself at his friend's enthusiasm as he climbed back into his chair to set up the VI to take over before he went off shift. Suvi was always predictable, having been easy to excite and sway her mood since the day he had met her. He turned in his chair as the door opened, surprised to see his partner coming back in again after she had just left. "I forgot to ask something important earlier" the woman admitted in embarrassment. "What is the reason Scott has us setting down on the planet in the first place?"

The Salarian rubbed the back of his head, suddenly nervous at admitting what the Pathfinder found important enough to delay their mission even though he wouldn't give Suvi enough time to do her job. "Well…"

XXXXX

Harry whistled to himself as he walked down the ramp towards the planet surface. He was absolutely exhausted, having worked for twenty four hour shifts without sleep in his tent to finish his creations. He was one of those unfortunate individuals whose mind wouldn't allow them any peace until they finished whatever they had fixated on, driving the wizard spare over the past few days. Spying the rest of the crew gathered at the bottom of the ramp, he walked right through them as he continued on out into the dusty landscape. "What the hell is going on" Scott gripped as they moved after him, hanging a few feet back to allow him to work. "I landed us like he requested but every time I ask what he has planned, he only replies with 'It's a secret'."

"Just give him a minute to set up" Vetra assured him as they followed the wizard, "he's been going off of nothing but coffee and ration bars the last few days. I've seen a little of what he's been working on and I promise you'll love it." She grinned as she adjusted her pack, making sure the contents that the wizard had asked her to carry were still there.

Harry stopped after a bit, looking over his shoulder to make sure they were far enough away from the ship for safety reasons. Holding up a hand to halt the others, he continued on for about fifty feet before ejecting his wand from the hidden slot on his armor. The others watched as the wizard began to raise lumps of rock out of the ground before shaping them into crude humanoid shapes. He repeated the process multiple times until they were surrounded by groups of the makeshift dummies. "Vetra!" he called out from the last group he was creating, "Did you bring them?" The turian held the pack over her head, earning a nod of relief from the wizard. "Can you please set it up like we discussed earlier? I'm almost done here."

Harry walked slowly back to the others, fatigue visible in every step. Vetra jogged between the various dummies, stopping behind random ones to place something on their backs before moving on. "Ready" she reported as she made her way back to the group, standing in the back to allow others an unobstructed view of the show. Sometimes it didn't pay off being such a tall species.

Harry pulled a small metal case out of a pouch before placing it on the ground and expanding it. He opened the lid before pausing and turning towards his audience. "I guess some background would be nice for those of you who I didn't ask to help me with the process of building these. No one besides myself has the ability to use magic in this galaxy, at least that I know of. What other's can do is activate runes, usually by proximity if I set them up that way." He held up a paper with a few marks on it that looked illegible to the others. "Here Sara" he said, handing the woman the paper. "Now wad it up and throw it away." The Pathfinder's sister did as instructed, the paper ball landing on the ground before emitting a bright light for a few moments before sputtering out. "That was set to activate on it's destruction." Harry said, gesturing to the garbage. The problem is that I have to repower them in between uses unless they're set to draw magic from the environment, something that I can't guarantee will work since each planet has its own taste of magic and the runes were created to interact with the Earth."

He held out his hand to PeeBee, getting one of the Remnant crystals slapped into his hand excitedly. The asari quickly ran back to the group, eager to have Harry continue his presentation. The wizard hid an amused smile, clearing his throat to bring the attention back to him. "Peebs showed me this wonderful little crystal a few days ago. The remnant use it in their weapons to amplify their effects. You send a stream of energy into the base of the crystal and the output is ten times greater than the input was. This got me thinking of what runes can do on it since they convert my magical energy into an effect." Reaching into the box, he pulled out a handgun with an odd circular opening about the size of his fist. The front half of it as made from what looked like ceramics instead of metals. Harry aimed the weapon at the closest test dummy and pulled the trigger, a fifteen foot stream of flame shooting out of the tip of the gun and wreathing the figure in fire. Turning back to the crowd, Harry popped open the side of the gun, exposing its innards to the audience. "I carved a ignite rune on onto one face of the crystal, while carving an intensity rune into another. The battery here" he pointed at the black case near the base of the gun "sends a charge to the two diodes here which feed the current into the runes. The output comes out the tip of the crystal which is aimed out the mouth of the gun."

He waved down the raised hands from Scott and surprisingly Drack, not expecting a krogan to patiently wait to ask a question. "I'll answer your questions once the practical demonstration is over." Closing the gun case back up, he pointed it at the dummy again. "Now flamethrowers have existed for centuries for all of us, milennia in the krogans case." That earned a grunt of approval from the krogan. "What you haven't seen before is that the battery recharges itself over a small amount of time, meaning that there won't be a fuel shortage for this baby. To make it even better, there will always be a small charge going to the ignite rune. All the rest of the charge is directed to the intensity rune though, meaning that the flames intensity changes depending on how hard you pull the trigger. Liam, come on up and try it out."

The ex-cop cheered as if he had won a game show, running up to stand next to the wizard. Harry handed him the weapon, coaching through the use. "Safety is on the side like a normal handgun. Point at your target and squeeze the trigger a third of the way." A flame shot out of the gun, Liam visibly sweating from the residual heat as he swept it over the target. "Great job, now slowly squeeze the trigger the rest of the way to see the difference in heat. Keep an eye on the battery gauge on back of the gun, when it hits zero the gun will cut off." Liam squeezed harder on trigger causing the flame to turn color from yellow to orange to red. The heat could be felt back where the rest of the team stood when the flame suddenly cut out, a low beeping noise came from the gun signalling it was recharging. Harry turned to the rest of the crew, raising an eyebrow at the looks of astonishment on their faces. "Questions?"

"I want it!" the krogan growled, starting forward to claim the weapon only to be stopped by the wizard as he held up his hand.

"Liam has it right now Drack, and that wasn't even a question" Harry explained slowly as if to a child.

"I want it… now?" the krogan tried again, confused as to why his normal approach didn't seem to be working this time.

Harry took the gun from Liam before lightly shoving him back to the group. Conjuring a table, he placed the gun on it before turning back to the storage container. "Next up, we have a new grenade. Drack, you want to do the demonstration?" Said krogan flexed his shoulders before strutting up next to the wizard. He held out his claw, getting a round black orb dropped into it. "When you're ready" Harry instructed, pop up the cover and push the red button. You have five seconds to throw it at least ten feet away from you or else bad stuff happens. I'll explain it after the demonstration" he said to the res, "Seeing is believing." He slapped the krogan on the back of the hump before taking a few steps away. "All you old man."

"Damn runt" the krogan chuckled before pushing the button and hurling the grenade at a group of dummies. It bounced off the targets chest before rolling to the ground in the middle of the group. Three seconds later, a flash blinded everyone, followed by a whooshing noise. When the light disappeared, everyone looked to the dummies. Only to find a hole in the ground shaped like a half circle. A single dummy lay at the bottom of it, a shield flickering on and off around it. Drax let out a low growl before hefting a large boulder over his head and moving towards the pit. Hurling the rock down, he crushed the dummy to pieces before walking back to the group while preening to himself.

"Riiiight…" the wizard muttered before turning back to the group. "The vanish grenade does just what it's name describes. Anything either not alive or shielded in a ten foot radius disappears from this reality."

"What happens if you throw it at a person" Sara asked as she eyed the grenades like they'd go off if she even drew near one.

"Everything not organic would vanish, leaving them behind" the wizard chuckled as he explained it. "Throw it at a kett heavy bearing down on you, and you're left with a naked, unarmed kett at the bottom of a hole staring up at you. Makes for an easy capture or crushing them with a rock as Drack has demonstrated." He dug into the trunk, pulling out a small bundle of the grenades hat he placed in a pile on the display table. "I only had enough to make ten of them, so don't waste them please. Also please don't use them on a ship unless you want everything to explosively decompress." He shuddered at the memory of his first experience of that on the Hyperion.

"I saved the best for last" he said, giggling as he reached deeply into the container. He missed the looks passed between the others, all of them slightly disturbed at his unstable laughter. Straightening up, he pulled out a strange looking grey gun about the size of a battle rifle. The front third of it funneled out to an opening about the size of his head, causing confusion to what its purpose was. "This" he held up the gun proudly "is my summoning and banishing gun. It can pull an object close to you using a summoning rune,or push an object away using a banishing rune. The third face of the crystal is carved with a proximity rune to stop an object two feet from you so it won't hit you when you summon it." The others were silent as he finished talking, looks of confusion adorned their faces at his lengthy explanation. "Fine" he sighed "who wants to do the practical demonstration?" All hands shot towards the sky this time, prompting him to choose one at random. "Gil, come on up."

The engineer cheered as he departed the group for a spot next to the wizard. "Kiss ass" the Pathfinder muttered as the man passed by. Harry shook his head at the byplay before handing the gun to the grease monkey.

"Ok, safety is on the side. There's two triggers. Right one summons the object and the left one banishes it. Don't let go of the trigger while summoning or you lose control of it. Trust in the gun that it'll stop before it hits you. Now give it a try on that rock over there" he pointed at a fist sized rock in the distance. Gil placed the gun against his shoulder as he aimed before pulling the right trigger. A yellow beam flew from the gun before latching onto the stone and pulling it back towards the startled man. The rock hovered in mid air two feet in front of him, moving any direction he pointed the gun. "Keep in mind that the battery does run low with continued usage" the wizard reminded him, prompting him to release the trigger. The rock fell to the ground, raising a small dust cloud. "Now summon it again" the wizard instructed after the battery recharged, causing the stone to be picked up again. "Ok Gil, when I say so, pull the left trigger. Before you do though, aim it at one of the dummies." Gil quickly followed his instructions, a grin spreading across his face in anticipation. "Do it now" Harry ordered. When Gil followed the command a bang was heard before the rock shot off like a bullet away from the gun. It impacted the dummy before shattering against it and causing the figure to fall over. You can also banish things from a distance of up to thirty feet" the wizard elaborated. "Go ahead and try the left trigger on some random objects." Rocks of various sizes began to fly as Gil went to town on the landscape. The engineer gave an evil cackle as a particularly large rock flew in a slow arc into the distance, its trajectory a thing of beauty.

Taking the gun back, Harry placed it on the table as well before turning towards his audience. "So far it only works on non organic material for some reason, but I'm still trying to work out all of the bugs. Any questions on the summoning and banishing gun?"

PeeBee raised her hand, prompting the wizard to call on her. "Why don't you just call it the gravity gun?" she asked with an innocent expression on her face. "It clearly uses your magic to run it, but attacks with physics. That's clearly gravity."

"Because" the wizard said snidely, irritated that someone would question his naming sense. "It summons and banishes objects. Therefore it's a summoning and banishing gun. End of story."

The asari nodded sagely at his words before turning to Sara and Cora. "It's a gravity gun" she said in a voice of finality, making a note on her omnitool. It glowed orange for a moment, causing the wizard to panic.

"SAM, don't you dare catalogue it as that name" he pleaded with the AI.

"I'm sorry Mr Potter" the synthesized voice replied with a touch of sympathy. "I'm sure it is a wonderful weapon but her designation for it is much more logical."

The wizard kicked the dirt in anger before calming himself. "Any other questions?" he asked, wanting to do nothing more than go lay down in his bed and sleep for the next twenty four hours straight.

He pointed at Gil next, the engineer clearing his throat quickly before speaking. "If these crystals magnify energy output, what's stopping us from designing an engine or weapons to take advantage of it

To his surprise, Cora raised her hand. "You said the crystals were in a pyramid shape right" she asked, getting a nod in acknowledgement from him. "Then why is it you didn't put a rune on the bottom side for anything? It seems like wasted space."

Harry slapped his head at his own stupidity. "I'm sorry, I think my brain is close to shutting down on me. Thank you for the reminder Cora." He sent the woman a smile of gratitude, getting her to return the gesture. "I did actually put a rune on the last face. He lifted up the flame thrower. At the base of each of these guns is a small button. If you press it, then the leads to the other runes are pulled back and all power is fed to an explosive ruin at the bottom of the crystal once the trigger is pulled again or the case is tampered with. Think of it as a self destruct so it won't fall into enemy hands."

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with my pillow and I don't want to be late." The wizard stumbled back towards the ship, leaving the rest of the crew to watch him leave until he disappeared into the ship. There was a moment of silence as everyone looked at the table before a mad scramble occured to reach the new weapons.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry was occupying his favorite chair on the bridge, trying to record the details of his weapons into a new book when alarms began to blare throughout the ship. Scott and Sara came sprinting onto the bridge within seconds, Sara still holding her coffee cup that said '#1 Pathfinder'. "What's going on SAM?" Scott shouted as he took his place at the center of the bridge. The view port was showing nothing but stars flying by at high speed as the ship began to decelerate.

"We are currently on a collision course with unknown objects Pathfinder." The AI informed the bridge as the ship began to shake around them due to the emergency braking thrusters being engaged. "Collision is imminent." Harry cast a quick sticking charm to his seat just in case.

The Tempest pulled out of FTL, screaming to a stop at the edge of an uncharted solar system. The view ports were filled with a gigantic kett battleship, easily the size of a dreadnaught. "I'm picking up twelve kett ships, no wait… way more than that!" Kallo reported nervously from his station. "We're pinned between them and the scourge."

"They are scanning us Pathfinder" SAM reported from the ship speakers.

The viewscreen came to life, a kett's face filling the screen. His eyes slowly scanned the bridge, stopping on Harry briefly before settling on Scott. "Where is the one who activated the Remnant?" he demanded. He scowled at their bewilderment, "Thier DNA signature is here. Answer me!"

The other crew members of the away team had made their way to the bridge during the conversation, silently hanging back as they observed. Scott squared his shoulders, giving a look of contempt back to the kett. "You're the one in my way. Who are you?"

Silence followed, before the ship began to rock again. "Navigation is locked out" Suvi reported.

"We're steered into their ship!" Kallo exclaimed as his hands flew over his console.

"Just what do you want from us?!" Sara cried out at the screen, unable to comprehend how things had gone south so quickly.

The kett dismissed the question with an arrogance that was on another level from anything Harry had ever experienced before, and he had been acquainted with the Malfoys. "I won't explain what you can not comprehend." was all it would say on the matter.

Ryder's hands gripped the rail in front of him as he grit his teeth in frustration. "Pathfinder" SAM spoke to him on their private channel. "I have almost regained control of the ship. I just need a few more seconds."

"I actually know alot about the Remnant. We should compare notes." he offered up to the kett, praying it would delay things enough.

"Enough." the alien bluntly cut him off. "Your defiance is naive and reckless. Today marks the beginning of your greatness." The screen cut out, signalling the alien felt they were beneath sacrificing any more of his time and energy.

"I have a course plotted through the scourge" SAM announced as the consoles lit back up again in front of Suvi and Kallo.

The Pathfinder grabbed hold of the rail in front of him while bracing his feet. "Do it" he commanded. The crew scrambled for any open seat available, strapping themselves in as tight as possible. The Tempest pivoted in place before accelerating away from the dreadnaught and into the heart of the scourge. Kallo's nimble fingers and steady hands were the only thing keeping them alive as they wildly dodged strands of the scourge that blocked their path, one getting so close that it sheared the tip of the Tempest wing clean off. Kett fighters had attempted to follow, only to die in fiery destruction as their ships were pierced by the scourge. The resulting explosions highlighted the scourge in fiery orange and red light as the released energies from the ships' reactors traveled along the strands of dark energy.

The Tempest shot out of the scourge cloud, performing a slow roll to allow the remaining sensors to point back at their escape route. Harry cringed as he felt the ship minutely shake as Kallo finished the maneuver. "I'm not exactly qualified on ship mechanics or anything" the wizard commented, "but that isn't exactly a good sign when we can feel the ship fly right?"

"No, it isn't" Kallo said in rapid speak. "We lost part of our left wing to the scourge during our escape. Right now, we couldn't get to FTL if we wanted to. We need to set down as soon as possible so we can assess the damages." He looked over his shoulder to Scott, "I don't recommend that we continue with our journey until we can fix the ship."

"That's fine Kallo" the Pathfinder reassured his pilot. "Between Gil and Harry, we have any repairs handled as long as we can get them a flat space to work. Do you have anything for us Suvi?"

The scientist of the Tempest ran another scan with her remaining sensors before perking up. "I have something" she reported. "Sending Kallo the coordinates now." The ship changed heading, now pointing towards a medium sized planet that seemed to be covered in volcanic activity.

"That wasn't really what I had in mind Suvi" Scott muttered as he squinted at the planet through the bridge window. "I don't see anywhere that we can park the Tempest. Isn't there anywhere else better?"

"Just follow my heading Kallo" the scientist instructed as she kept her eyes glued to her monitor. "I'm detecting an area with cooler temperatures that might be just what we need."

The ship entered the atmosphere at a good clip, flames starting to gather around the ship as it skimmed through the atmosphere. "We weren't on fire when we entered Eos" Liam observed to Cora as they stood in the back of the bridge. "What's so different this time."

Gil pushed past them as he made his way to the engineering station behind Suvi. "It's because our mass effect field can't form properly with part of the port wing missing. Kallo's doing wonders just keeping us going in a straight line." The Tempest began to shudder before a snap could be heard from further back in ship.

The Tempest began to slowly drift down and to the right, dropping out of it's flight path that Suvi had set up. Kallo corrected for it in a split second, flying into a large steam cloud that was directly in their path. The ship cleared the cloud bank a moment later, unaware that three smaller ships were now tailing it while flying in a delta formation. "We're being hailed!" Suvi reported excitedly, craning her head to try to see their pursuers.

"At least know they aren't Kett" Drack mumbled before turning to head back to the cargo bay. "Those assholes wouldn't have bothered contacting us again before shooting" he could be heard saying before the doors closed behind him.

"We need to land" Ryder exclaimed desperately. "Open a comm channel to them." An alien voice responded immediately, it's words unintelligible to the Tempest crew. "We're visitors from another galaxy" Scott tried again. "Our intentions are peaceful." Silence filled the bridge for a few moments before the alien's voice returned again. It's curt reply this time sounding almost like a confirmation.

"We've been given a Navpoint!" Kallo said, working to enter it into his console.

"Follow it" Ryder ordered, getting a nod from his pilot as the ship shook from the slight course correction.

The Tempest followed the route, escorted by the patrol craft as it progressed. The magma fields gradually gave away to lush, green hills covered in vegetation. "God… It's beautiful" Sara whispered. "This is what Habitat 7 was supposed to be like." Scott gave her a one armed hug as he kept his eyes glued to the screen. They rapidly approached a city built into the side of a mountain that overlooked the valleys around it. Kallo gently set the ship down on their designated landing pad, the escort ships peeling off to return to their previous patrol.

"We need to get into that vault" Scott said, straightening up as he turned to head towards the ship exit.

"Please." Vetra exclaimed in exasperation as she watched her seemingly suicidal commander. "You're not really going to go out there alone are you?"

"It's just the fate of crew and possibly the Nexus on the line in this first contact" Liam added helpfully, "No pressure." He yelped as he received a smack upside the head from the resident turian.

The Pathfinder smiled at the crew's interactions. The little things like this reflected how they were finally getting comfortable around each other enough to begin to mesh. "If this goes badly - if I get eaten alive - even if its hilarious - please destroy the vids" he joked as he made his way off the bridge, trying to lighten the mood. He stopped at the top of the cargo ramp, shaking out his upper body in an attempt to relieve tension before he took the first step.

He turned as the door to the crew quarters slid open, revealing a grinning Harry. "You need to start thinking this stuff through before you head off on your own." the wizard commented as he stopped at the top of the ramp next to his friend.

Scott raised an eyebrow in surprise, unsure of where Harry was going with this. "So you decided to come with me?" he asked, half hoping for an affirmative answer.

He was disappointed when the wizard shook his head in the negative, a light laugh escaping his mouth. "That first contact shit is your bread and butter Pathfinder. We both know I'd stick my foot in my mouth and just make it worse." Harry pulled out a ring with a large ruby, casting a quick " _portus"_ before handing it over. "Just say the magic word and you'll be right back where you're standing now. Try not to need it." He patted Scott on the shoulder before turning and making his way back to the others on the bridge.

"I'll tell you the same advice our shaman told us before we went off world for the first time human." Drack shouted down to him from the second level as the ramp slid down. "Don't fuck up!" Scott's laughter could be heard as the Pathfinder took his first step towards establishing contact with a new people.

XXXX

"I'm back!" Scott called as he made his way back up the ramp. "Come on" he said over his shoulder before heading towards the crew quarters. "Let's get you squared away and introduce you to the crew."

"That sounds like a good idea" Jaal agreed as his head constantly turned, trying to memorize the layout of the ship as he moved through it. The new technology was a secondary curiosity at best compared to knowing where all the possibly entry and egress routes were. Life in the Resistance had taught him how to prioritize his survival before all else. A dead angara was a useless angara. "I am curious to meet the rest of the people from the 'Milky Way'."

"Well, let's do that first then." Ryder said as he made his way towards the command center. "I called a quick meeting so the crew will be gathered already."

Walking up the ramp, the Pathfinder found the crew talking in groups as they waited for the meeting to start. He grinned at Harry as the wizard stared past him, bug-eyed, at the new alien. "Hey!" the wizard shouted, silencing the room as they all turned towards him. "Scott and the new guy are here. Let's get this meeting under way."

Jaal smiled internally as he observed the informalness of the crew. It reminded him a little of how the Resistance interacted with each other. 'This might not be as bad as I had feared.' he reflected to himself.

"This is Jaal, a member of the Angara, the species that calls this planet home. They're a space faring race that's colonized numerous planes in this part of the galaxy. Unfortunately the scourge knocked out communications between the planets and they have been slowly recovering since. To make matters worse, they've been fighting the kett for the past few decades. That about covers all that I've been briefed on so far. You'll all get a chance to learn more once we're underway. We're heading to a new planet called Voeld to help the angara with a very important mission." He watched the crew turn to head back to their posts, Jaal surprisingly joining Liam. The black man excitedly asking question after question to the amused resistance fighter, who answered them with patience and a bit of humor.

Turning towards his three go to guys for ship problems who had all stayed behind, he cut to heart of the matter. "What's the damage and how soon can we get airborne? I got us a window from the angara to fix our ship before we have to clear the landing pad."

Kallo and Gil shared a look, communicating nonverbally before the pilot turned back towards the Pathfinder. "We ran diagnostics with SAM's help while you were gone. The structural damage is the only thing remaining that is holding us from taking off."

"I took the chance to rewire the affected areas to streamline the system" Gil chipped in, earning himself a hard glare from the pilot. "Now we just need our resident witch doctor to do his voodoo and we can get going."

It was an ongoing battle between the two and Scott hurriedly worked to defuse it before it could get uglier. "That's way better than I had expected. You guys have gone above and beyond. Thank you." The pilot and engineer preened a little before making their way back to their posts. Turning to Harry, he frowned slightly. "We're being monitored heavily right now. Are you comfortable with showing your magic to a new group of beings?"

Harry shrugged, "Hell if I know. Not much point in hiding it when I've already been open about it to the rest of the Initiative though. Secrets hidden half assed like that never last that long. I'll let you know when I'm done." He turned on the spot, vanishing from the meeting room and appearing on top of the Tempest. Making his way past the bridge, he paused and waved at the startled crew before continuing on towards the wing. This was his first look at what the damage really looked like. The last third of the wing was completely gone, the metal jagged as it looked like the metal had been ripped apart by some great force.

Hearing an excited cry, Harry looked out to the docks, surprised at the size of the crowd gathering already to watch him work. Hundreds of angara were there, males, females, and children all looked on with curiosity, trying to figure out how this strange alien was going to fix the damaged ship. 'Might as well give them a show' the wizard thought. Ejecting his wand from it's holder, he strode to the top of the ship before facing in the direction that they had flown in from. " _Accio Wing!_ " he shouted as loud as possible while surging a large portion of his magic into his wand. He glowed for a moment due to the power usage, drawing gasps and murmurs from the crowd. Silence reigned for a few moments before the voices began to pick back up in confusion as he stood still, not taking his eyes off the horizon for a moment. His concentration paid off a moment later when the sheared off potion of the wing came hurtling back towards him from out in the jungle. He flared his magic again, stopping the hunk of metal just in time to avoid taking his head off. Using his wand, he maneuvered the wing tip to its old location before casting an overpowered " _reparo"_ on it. He did a little dance, swishing his arms around and putting his wand away as the magic worked to fix the wing.

Apparating back inside, he made his way to the bridge. "Give it a try now Kallo" he said as he grabbed his favorite seat. The salarian gave him a thumbs up before turning and initiating the Tempests startup program. The engines flared to life, ready to take the crew onto the next step of their journey.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Easy Calls and Hard Falls

"Holy shit that's cold!" Sara smiled to herself as she watched Harry stumble back up the ramp, wiping snow off of his hardsuit. It looked like the wizard had taken a dive in a snow bank instead of simply walking down the ship's ramp. "I have a damn space suit on with its own environmental controls! It shouldn't be able to be that cold outside. Why the hell would someone want to live on a iceball of a planet like this?"

Jaal closed his rifle up, slinging it over his shoulder to attach to his back as he pushed himself to his feet. "It wasn't always like that here. Hundreds of years ago, this used to be a lush garden world full of my people. When the scourge hit, the planet was knocked out of its orbit sending it into an ice age that drove us from our cities. They're still buried under the ice, even now." He stood at the edge of the ramp, a hard look in his eyes. "We refuse to abandon one of our most important planets though. My people are tougher than a bit of snow and wind. That's also why the kett presence is so heavy here. We won't stop until the filth is driven from our planet." He hit the open button, marching down into the blizzard.

Harry whistled at the badass exit by their angara crew member. "Well that was dramatic." he turned towards the rest of the crew who had gathered at the base of the ramp while popping off his helmet.

"You are aware that I am still able to hear you right?" Jaal's voice echoed over the suit's comm system. Harry cringed at getting caught, making a note to make it up to Jaal later. "Pathfinder, I've made contact with the local resistance commander" their angara resistance fighter continued his report. "Evfra called ahead to set up his end of the agreement, now it's time to see if you will keep yours. They'll lead us to the transports to rescue the Moshae." The line cut out, leaving the rest of the group in silence as they stood in the cargo bay.

"God dammit Harry…" the Pathfinder shook his head as he stood at the top of the ramp with his team gathered around him. "Help me out Sara." A smack was heard with a yelp of pain from the wizard, brining a smile to Scott's face. "Here's what I know so far. A very important angara leader, Moshae Sjefa, has been capture by the kett in the last few days. I volunteered us to assist the angara in rescuing her from the main kett prisoner facility on Voeld for three reasons. It will help gain trust with the angara," he held up one finger, earning smiles from his sister and Cora. He held up a second finger, "it's the right thing to do," Liam, Vetra, and PeeBee began getting psyched up as well. Finger number three went up, "And because we get to stick it to those asshole kett." Harry cheered at that, only to get drown out by a roar of excitement from Drack. The eager krogan charging down the ramp to be the first to bring the fight to their hated enemies.

Harry stared down the ramp as the door closed again, Drack's voice still echoing through the cargo bay around them. "Do you think the Angara will consider it an invasion if an angry unsupervised krogan charges out of a previously unknown ship while cocking his shotgun?"

"...Fuck!" the twins shouted in unison as they ran down the ramp, desperate to stop another intergalactic incident from starting.

XXXXX

The bay of the angaran shuttle was a dreary grey, packed to the gills with a five man fire team of angara as well as the Pathfinder's assault team. Harry found himself in the uncomfortable position of sitting directly across from Jaal as the ship continued on its course. The angara had simply slumped back against the wall, looking as if he was under no stress at all as he stared at the wizard as if trying to solve a puzzle.

Finally at the thirty minute mark of the flight, Harry couldn't take the silence any more. "I'm sorry about the joke earlier when you were trying to explain what your people were going through" he apologized as he lifted his head to make eye contact with the angara. He noticed that all of the others were trying hard not to pay attention to his conversation, yet still straining their ears to listen in over the sound of the engines.

"I took no offense" Jaal stated as he regarded the human in front of him. "I actually know many fellow resistance fighters that share your sense of humor. When the stress becomes greater, they are the first in the group to attempt to lighten it with amusement. I usually had to fall into that role by default in the past when on missions. It is refreshing to be able to just sit back and enjoy it." He leaned forward, placing his gun across his lap so he could examine it's trigger guard. "I simply don't know how to act around you yet and am trying to learn your tells through observation. I hope it isn't causing you stress."

"Humans are a little different" Liam piped up from farther down the bay. The others having given up on pretending not to partake in the discussion. "We like eye contact when speaking to each other, but too much staring makes us a little uncomfortable."

"But why would that be?" asked a female angara who sat next to the black man. "Two of your crew have been looking at us the exact same way and we have not experienced any discomfort." She casually pointed at Vetra and Drack as she made the observation.

"You'd have to ask a scientist to get a real answer" Cora said, shrugging as she relaxed into a slouch in her chair. "Personally I think it's simply because humans came from a planet where we weren't the alpha predator for a long time. We evolved to live and hunt in packs and were conditioned to pick up when something that wanted to kill us was in the area. So when something is making eye contact for a long time, we feel threatened that it wants to eat us." Glancing over at Drack, she gave a small shudder. "It took us a while to get comfortable around turians and krogan for that very reason."

"Interesting" a male angara with an assault rifle commented as he took in the lieutenant's words. "We will make note of that to report to our leaders. It will help with diplomacy between our peoples."

"But how did humans evolve into the what they are now if they were constantly hunted?" the female angara asked, fascinated by the subject. "You don't seem to have the natural weapons on your bodies that the krogan and tur-e-ans do."

"Turians" Harry said helpfully. "And what we had to combat our enemies was an over large brain compared to most other species on the planet. We made better tools and developed better methods until we ended up turning the tables on our various predators. Now most of them are either endangered or extinct and we've developed our worlds to fit our tastes." He grinned threateningly at the krogan who he was coming to respect. "A krogan I had met before told me it was one of the things that krogans admired most about us. We started out puny but could develop a hell of a killer instinct when necessary."

Drack chuckled to himself, slowly shaking his head at the wizard. "You got that right runt. I've seen first hand what you can do to your enemies when properly motivated. The kett don't stand a chance." The angara roared in unison, hyped up at the krogan's words and eager to engage their mortal enemy. "I think I'm starting to like you guys a little too" the krogan observed, approving of the naked aggression he was witnessing.

The lights in the shuttle went out as the nose began to turn towards the ground. Silence reigned over the group again as they each went through their final preparations before the mission began. A fist slamming on the bulkhead from the cockpit signaled Jaal to step forward and throw open the shuttle door. His silhouette stood out against the daylight as he scanned the surrounding area for any threats before dropping from view towards the ground. "We're clear" he reported as he moved to find a firing position to cover the rest of the team.

"This is it team!" Scott shouted as he made his way towards the exit. "Drack, Liam, Harry. Form up on me. Second team wait five seconds before following." He jumped from the shuttle, falling five feet and landing in the ankle deep snow. He wasted no time moving away from the shuttle, two light taps and a heavy thud signalling the rest had followed him out. Jaal joined him as he walked towards the energy barrier that spanned the complex. It glowed an angry orange, it's threat clear to any who were stupid enough to venture forward and touch it. Clicking on the group radio channel, he began to scan the ground for anything he could use to bypass the energy field. "Everyone fan out and try to find a way around the barrier. The angara scout reported a possible weak point in this area."

Harry approached the barrier, squatting down to observe where the barrier met the ground. "How far down does this go?" he asked as he tossed a small stone at the orange light. A loud *Zap* sounded, accompanied with a flash. The rock simply ceased to exist as if it was flash burned down to its atoms.

Jaal took up station next to him, providing cover as he observed the wizard work. The angara had been unable to make sense of some of the things he had observed the human do during the flight to Voeld. He didn't question it though past what it could possibly do to help the resistance against the kett. Secrets would reveal themselves as needed; they always did in the end. "It stops at the base of the pillars that generate it" he supplied to the human. "They bury them two feet down to discourage any local animals from attempting to dig by. We never have been able to take advantage of it though since patrols come too regularly to allow for the excavation.

"You should take a step back" Harry warned as he knelt on the ground, his arm sweeping the snow away to reveal a patch of bare dirt. He cast a quick warming charm on each hand before removing the gloves and placing his bare palms on the rock. "The gloves get in the way when I'm trying to focus on the big stuff" he explained to the angara's unanswered question. Jaal had been joined by the rest of the two teams as they watched the wizard work, no one having any luck on their end of the search.

"Jaal, what is he trying to do?" the female angara asked as she craned her neck forwards to watch. "He's going to lose his hands to the cold if he doesn't cover them up soon. Look! His fingers are already turning blue!" She made to step forward, only to be pulled back into the group by Drack.

"Just wait." The krogan instructed as he cradled his shotgun in his arms. "The runt is getting ready to do something big." True to the krogan's words, the ground began to shake around them, a pit forming a few feet to their right. The sinkhole soon had stairs form into its side, while a duplicate one could be seen forming on the other side of the barrier.

Jaal cautiously made his way to the top of the stairs, observing the pit continue to form until a sliver of daylight could be seen at the bottom of it as the ground ceased shaking. "I shall scout ahead" he informed the others before entering the stairwell. "Darra," he called over his shoulder to female angara, "watch over Harry until he is fit to join us." He disappeared down the stairs, coming back up on the other side of the barrier moments later before waving the rest through.

"Move up team" Scott ordered as the angara moved through the passage. "Join us as soon as you can Harry. Thank you for doing this." He received a quick wave from the exhausted wizard before following the rest of the team into the tunnel.

Harry had collapsed onto his hands and knees after the others left, panting heavily behind his mask while shivering as the female angara made her way over to him. He had no interest in showing how exhausted he really was to the others and causing them to worry. She pulled him back into a sitting position before helping put one of his gloves back onto his hand. Darra fumbled with the armor before cursing to herself and ripping off her own outer glove to give her the dexterity needed to help the human re-armor himself. She took Harry's hand in her own, taking a second to marvel at the five fingers he possessed compared to her three. She felt a small pull on her bioelectric field, dropping his hand in alarm as she backed away. The man had stopped shivering, his body seeming to strengthen in front of her eyes as his breathing returned to normal. 'This is probably a bad idea' she thought to herself as she reached out, taking his hand in hers again.

Harry looked up in alarm as she began to slowly generate bioelectricity into her hand, feeling it as it began to flow into him. He could feel his magical core begin to recharge itself at a rate faster than he had ever experienced before. His intrigue tapered off as he watched Darra begin to strain though, pulling his hand away quickly before she could hurt herself. Throwing on his gauntlet, he quickly leveraged himself to his feet before casting a warming charm on her exposed hand and slipping her glove on again. She smiled shyly as he helped her "You know, I was the one who was supposed to be assisting you."

The Potter grin was flashed to her as they walked through the tunnel, coming back up to the daylight again. "What exactly did you do to me?" the wizard asked as he made his way into the ventilation shaft that had been the team's point of ingress. He pulled her up to join him as they walked side by side down the shaft.

"I noticed you had unconsciously pulled a little bit of my bioelectricity when we touched. It seemed to help you so I increased the flow." Darra frowned as she looked away again, her expression twisted up in what a human would interpret as worry. "It seemed the necessary thing to do to help your recovery."

"And it did" the wizard assured her quickly, concerned about why her mood had taken such a shift. "You helped recharge my internal magic. If it goes too low then my body starts to react like what you saw earlier." He frowned as he recalled how tough the simple earth transfiguration was to accomplish. "I shouldn't have had to spend that much magic on so simple a spell. It's like the planet was trying to suck me dry like a sponge would take in water."

"That is interesting" Darra commented as she navigated around a vent opening, continuing to follow the trail left by the team. "We have recorded that Voeld's energy field has been different ever since the scourge hit hundreds of years ago. You might have discovered something new about the phenomena." Her intrigue faded as they progressed past a battlefield, kett bodies littering the floor in various positions.

Harry stopped at the door, blocking her from opening it and continuing. "Can you tell me what is wrong? You seem to be upset about something and I'd like to help, especially after what you've done for me just a little bit ago." She turned her head away again, causing him to sigh before hitting the access panel on the door. He pushed on, joined a second later by his silent companion as they made their way through the eerily silent facility.

It seemed as if the kett had been wiped out by the advancing team, leaving none behind. Darra followed the wizard for a few more minutes in silence before quickening her pace to walk next to him again. "There isn't anything you can do to help my situation, but I thank you for offering" she said as they climbed a flight of stairs to the second level of the facility. "We merge our bioelectric fields with our spouses, causing them to change in their signature. It is a way for us to show how important we are to each other."

Harry froze at hearing that admission, his mind going haywire at the possible implications. "There must be extenuating circumstances though right…?" he asked, dreading the answer.

Darra gave him an amused smile before turning back ahead. "Yes, there are plenty of circumstances where it happens besides love. It can be done in medical procedures or even attacks in desperate situations. I just worry about how my spouse Jeroth will take it when he sees the change in me. You are like nothing we have ever encountered before and a little bit of your signature is now inside me as well. Jeroth has no trust for aliens since both our encounters with the kett and your outcasts have turned out bad for the angara."

Harry frowned at the thought of being discriminated against for something he couldn't help. He had experienced living in a society practically drowning in such racism already and had hoped to have moved past that in Andromeda. 'I guess it'll happen no matter where I go' he thought sadly to himself. "I detest people who judge others for something they can't control" he admitted to his new friend as they made their way deeper into the facility. "We should be judged on our motives and actions. That's what makes us who we are as individuals in the end." He received a smile from Darra for the kind words, his companion cheering up slightly. "I'll have your back if you ever need help Darra" he promised, feeling his magic surge for a second before settling again. He had just unintentionally made a magically binding contract, his magic sensing his intention and reacting accordingly without his direction.

"Thank you Harry" the angaran female said, her hand patting his shoulder as a sense of trust seemed to settle over her. She knew that this human would never betray her, even though she couldn't figure out how she came to that conclusion. "I'll let you know what happens when I…" she was interrupted as alarms began to sound around them. "We need to speed up" she said as she began to sprint forwards, knowing that safety was in joining the larger group. She could hear the wizard's foot falls right behind her as she continued her run.

XXXXX

Drack was having the time of his life. His kill count was currently through the roof and there was no way anyone was catching up with it if he had a say in the matter. He stood tall in the middle of a large laboratory, his team taking cover on one side while the kett occupied the other. The elder krogan roared out a challenge, grinning to himself as one of the larger anointed kett dropped its machine gun and shouted its own reply while making its way towards the huge reptile. The fighting petered out as both sides seemed to declare an unofficial ceasefire, intent on watching the main event of the battle. The anointed kett lowered its head, charging at the krogan with the intent to shoulder check it to the ground. This failed spectacularly as his boney forehead was met with a scaled fist, knocking the alien for a loop before a hammerfist met the back of its head and sending it face first to the ground. Drack roared in celebration before picking the kett up as if it weighed nothing and held it in front of him one handed. He pulled his heavy pistol with the other hand, lining up a shot and drilling one of the shotgun toting destined in the forehead before the alien could bark out any orders. The dinosaur grinned as his meat shield soaked up the returning fire, slowly making his way towards the enemy lines as he fired upon any kett that made itself a target. 'Wait until the runt hears about this one' he gloated to himself.

Scott shook his head at the krogan's antics as he lined up another shot with his sniper rifle. He wouldn't say the fighting was getting any simpler, but ever since they had started targeting the shotgun armed kett first, the aliens just seemed to lack the cohesiveness that made them so intimidating before. His communicator squealed for a second before coming to life, indicating a weak signal. " _Hey Scott!_ " he heard his missing crewman greet him faintly, the sounds of gunfire echoing over the speaker and proving the wizard hadn't been having an easy time so far either.

"Harry!" he greeted back, unable to suppress the grin at knowing one of his close friends was still alive and kicking. The Pathfinder had begun to fear the worst with how long it had taken to hear from him. "How much longer until you'll be able to meet up with us? We're in the last laboratory before the main chamber."

" _Yeah… I don't think that'll be happening anytime soon._ " An explosion blasted the earpiece into static for a second before resolving back into the wizard cursing again. " _We're in the chamber below the main hall right now and I'm currently looking at what has to be a few thousand angara trapped in stasis coffins. We're almost done with mopping up these wankers once Darra stops playing around and caps the last guy…. Yes I'm talking about you… Quick question Scott, did you bring down this facility's shield yet and does Jaal still have a communication line to the main resistance base open?_ "

"Yes to both questions" Scott said as he ducked behind cover as the last anointed turned his machine gun to walk the line of fire over the Pathfinder's position. "Why?"

" _Just ask Jaal to see if they received my present on their landing pad outside the base. Hurry."_

"Scott?" he heard said angara's deep voice from across the room. It carried over easily now that the fighting had finally come to an end. "Why is the resistance's main base asking if we know how a coffin appeared from out of thin air there? And why does it contain an angara?"

"Screw that! You all need to get over here quick!" Sara called from the next room. The crew stampeded in to join her, finding themselves in an observation room overlooking a group of kett standing in the main meeting chamber. A coffin was slowly lowered from where a multitude of them hung suspended by mass effect fields. The door opened, revealing an angara who appeared to be in a trance. A kett dressed in red religious garb stepped forward, beginning a speech about ascension being a gift that would bring the angara to a higher plane of existence to join their kett brothers.

Before anyone could think to act, the kett priest plunged two injectors into each side of the angara's neck and stepped back. The alien screamed in pain as his flesh began to ripple, his frame beginning to grow until his skin broke open in places, revealing bone protrusions that matched another species perfectly. "He became a kett!" Jaal was beside himself, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. "We've been fighting our own people the whole time!" He fell to his knees, emptying his stomach on the floor as his vision swam. "I've murdered my own people! What have I done?"

Scott swiftly stepped up to the window next to Jaal. Grabbing the angara by the collar, the Pathfinder lifted him up before using his free hand to punch him across the face. Jaal's eyes flew open in surprise at the pain as his brain returned to full speed again. "That isn't one of your people anymore!" the Pathfinder roared, pointing down at the new kett as it was outfitted and armed by it's brothers. "It will either kill or enslave your people like every other kett. Do you want to help your people?" At Jaal's tentative nod, he threw the angara against the window as he drew his battle rifle. "Then help me end their suffering! And let's make sure no one else has to go through that in this hell hole." As one, the entire fireteam lined up against the window, raising their guns at the gathered kett below. The kett lives ended in a flash, unable to even register what killed them as they were torn apart by seven guns emptying their entire clips into the bodies below. "Harry?" Scott said as he loaded a new heat sink, "We're going for the Moshae before it's too late. We'll probably attract most ot the base's remaining kett in the process so use the window to evacuate as many angara as you can find. You're going to have to ensure your own exfiltration so be ready. When we leave, this death factory is going to cease to exist."

" _Way ahead of you Scott. We already sent a few hundred of them while you were fighting. I'll do what I can from here. See you back at the base."_

The Pathfinder walked towards the elevator in the back of the room, determined to not let the kett religious leader escape with the Moshae. He was joined by his fireteam and the grim faced angara that had reconnected with them in the main chamber. Laughter and joking was finished. There was killing that needed to be done.

XXXXX

"Bloody fucking hell" Harry cursed to himself as he sank down to his knees in exhaustion. He had reached the one thousand portkey mark moments ago, pushing his magic to the absolute limit to send the angara child back to the base. He had initially tried to prioritize women and children before giving it up as a lost cost that wasted too much time. Afterwards, whatever container was nearest was immediately sent off while his companion covered him from any surprise attacks. It had been quiet so far, the kett seeming to assume that not much damage could be done in the storage area and prioritizing the Pathfinder's team as the main threat.

Harry looked at the ground in frustration, his eyes closed as sweat ran down his forehead and dripped off of his nose into the faceplate of his helmet. He was barely going to be able to save a fraction of the prisoners with the time he had left before Scott made good on his threat to level the base. The wizard could understand his fellow crew member's need to destroy such an evil place, but his saving people nature wouldn't let him leave with there still being people to save. His eyes flew open in surprise as he felt his helmet pop off from someone externally releasing the airlocks on it, but he was too tired to even defend himself. Harry faintly registered the mixed scents of machine oil and disinfectant as he breathed in the facility's air before he felt a smooth, slightly cold hand run through his hair. The next thing he knew, his magic levels began to fill again bringing energy to his limbs and leaving no question as to what was happening. "Why?" he rasped out, coming up to his knees as he turned his head towards Darra as she stood behind him. "You know what this might cause for you and your family."

"Some things are more important than 'what may happen' down the road" the angaran answered as she kept an eye on her surroundings. She looked down at the human next to her, fascinated by the contrast of colors as her purple hand ran through his black hair. "This feels so soft…" she murmured as she felt the nearly silky material, enjoying how it's dampness felt against her skin. Darra grew alarmed as her vision swam for a second, surprised at how quick her bioelectric levels were drained by the human. Reluctantly she pulled her hand back after giving the hair one final caress, promising herself she would do it again one day when the opportunity presented itself. She watched as the human leveraged himself to his feet again, taking a step towards the nearest coffin before marveling as it vanished a second later in a rush of wind.

"Thank you" Harry said gratefully as he worked his way down the next row. He watched her sink against a console, using it to brace against as she tried to regain her strength. "Please don't do that again though. I don't think you can handle giving away that much without something bad happening. Here, take this" he said, tossing her a simple ring. "Just say your name and you'll head back to the base the same way all of these coffins are."

"What about you?" she asked with a frown as she took a step forward. She had only known this human for a few hours but could already begin to get a sense of his character and didn't like the thought of him getting killed. He had too much potential to help her people. That and she was beginning to genuinely value him as a friend. Darra stopped her advance, growing excited as she peered into a stasis container and finding a squadmate who she had thought lost only days ago. "Harry!" she cried out, causing him to spin around from his spot across the gigantic room. He had apparently made quick progress with her energy supercharging him, though he was beginning to show signs of flagging again already. "I need this opened now!" she gestured wildly at the container, causing him to raise an eyebrow in question.

Harry mentally shrugged before firing an _alohomora_ at it and returning to his first priority. He panted as he laid his hand on the next coffin, feeling his magic surge again before the angara male disappeared from sight on his way back to his people. The wizard smiled to himself as he listened to Darra's excited voice having a rapid fire conversation with the other female angara that had tumbled from the opening pod. Taking a moment to lay his elbows over the levitating pod and give himself a rest, he mentally took stock of the room. Over a third of it had already been cleared out, though he had doubts of getting too many more of them before he dropped from magical exhaustion. He pulled the earpiece out of the helmet and placed it in his ear, tapping it with his finger to activate it. "Please tell me you have some good news Scott. I don't know how much more I'm going to be able to do down here."

 _"Harry?"_ the Pathfinder's voice replied. Labored breathing could be heard over the radio, showing the exhausted state that the rest of the team was already in. " _I can't talk now. We're about to breach the hanger that the Moshae is being held in. Can you hold your position?"_

Harry felt a hand brush into his hair again, preparing himself to curse out Darra for attempting to recharge him again after he forbade her earlier. Instead, he came face to face with a new angara female, this one a deeper purple than his new friend. The alien offered him a nervous look before it began to pump her bioenergy into him, bringing the familiar rush back into his veins again. Darra smiled at him from over her friend's shoulder, reassuring him that it was going to be alright. Putting his hand back to his ear bud, he turned towards the pod again. *Whoosh* It was sent on it's way. He felt a small surge in the charge from the female behind him, showing her surprise at his use of magic in front of her. Darra's voice could be heard reassuring her though, bringing the charge back to normal. "I'll be ok for now" he assured Scott. "Just keep me informed if something changes."

Scott nodded to himself as the call ended, glad that his missing crew member was still going strong. "Do it SAM" he ordered as he held out his omnitool as the group surrounded him. A orange colored 3D holographic map of the next room was projected above his arm for all to see, a small window showing a live shot of the room with the leader of the facility's kett dragging the Moshae towards a shuttle being hastily prepared for departure. "We have to move fast on this, there's no time for anything complex. The angaran fireteam goes for the left route while Sara, Cora, PeeBee, and Vetra go right. Drack, Liam, Jaal, and myself will go directly up the center and hopefully draw most of the fire. While we hold their attention, the sides sweep in towards the kett Cardinal and the Moshae. First priority is to make sure that shuttle doesn't leave the pad. Questions?" He looked around seeing nothing but shaking heads and grim looks. He stood up, slamming his hand on the krogan's shoulder. "Cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war Drack."

The elder krogan's smile was intimidating to say the least. He turned and slammed his fist on the door's control, charging full speed into the bay. He jammed his shotgun into the stomach of the surprised kett who was guarding the door before lifting the alien into the air and firing. The kett on the level below all froze as they were coated in a fine red coating of gore, the cardinal's mouth moving but no sound came out. The rest of the fire teams entering after the large reptile galvanized the defenders into action, fields of fire quickly being laid down on both sides as the final fight for control of the facility began in earnest. The cardinal stowed the Moshae in behind a barrier before lifting off the ground as a barrier formed around her. She screamed in rage at the defilers of her holy temple, urging her soldiers forwards to crush the intruders.

The angara were pinned, a group of five destined played peek-a-boo with them. The kett would cloak before advancing forwards, only to retreat as the angaran fired wildly in their direction. The kett shields were to strong for the unfocused fire to drain though leaving the sides in a stalemate as they waited for the others to break it one way or the other. Ryder found himself and his team in a giant fire fight with eight anointed, bullets flying fast and furious as the four crewmen of the Tempest concentrated their fire on one kett at a time, breaking their shields and dropping them permanently before diving for cover to allow their own barriers to recover. 'We're progressing too slow!' the Pathfinder thought frantically as he watched the shuttle's engines begin to light up. His shadow grew in length for a moment as two large explosions went off to his right, momentarily drowning out the sound of gunfire.

Sara led her team across the pathway on the right, stopping to dive for cover behind some containers as they were engaged by a group of kett chosen who stood behind energy barriers at the far end of the bridge. Five wraiths charged forwards, intent on taking a chunk out of the first person they came across. Sara gave Vetra a slight shove towards the way they had came, indicating what she wanted done. "You're the bait! Go!" The turian shot her a glare before cursing to herself and jumping up. She zigzagged backwards while shooting wildly at the wraiths, enraging them enough that they charged right past the other females in their haste to get to their tormentor. Sara let them go far enough away before signaling Cora, "Singularity now!" Cora lit up in dark energy before flinging her arms forward, a ball of dark energy forming above the wraiths and drew them in as they orbited around it. Vetra came to a halt, grinning as she pulled out a grenade and primed it. PeeBee repeated the tactic over the heads of the chosen, pulling the kett from behind their cover to float in the air. Sara rose slowly from her cover, a miniature sun seeming to form in her hand that caused the captured aliens now small amount of panic as they struggled to escape. She flung the flare forward before diving behind the container again, shielding herself from the biotic explosion as she felt the shockwave from the second one behind her that Vetra initiated. "Go, go, go!" she shouted as she sprinted forwards again, turning the corner at full speed and spotting the Moshae weakly trying to crawl away from where she had been set on the walkway earlier. "I got you." she reassured the angara. "We're going to get you out of here."

The Moshae lifted her head to see her savior, momentarily confused as she found herself looking at one of the new aliens that had just shown up in the galaxy over the last year. "No one has ever returned from behind kett walls" she said weakly, trying to warn the newcomers to escape while they could.

Sara smiled down at the alien, reaching out her hand. "Then it looks like you'll be the first." Grabbing the angaran leader gently, she retreated back to cover behind a nearby bulkhead and having her team provide cover.

The Moshae could only shake her head in sadness as she watched the culmination of the fight at the bottom of the hanger. "I'm not the only one here. They've captured my entire cell." She watched as a team of angara raced to her before joining the rest of the security detail, seamlessly forming up with them with out any kind of argument. The showing of teamwork between species gave her hope that her people might finally not be alone in their fight anymore.

Scott sighed in relief as he watched the rescue before calmly raising his rifle and firing a shot into the last anointed's eye, dropping the heavy kett like a puppet with its strings cut. The only one left was the Cardinal, who slowly lowered herself to the ground as her battered shield began to flicker on and off. She raised her hands in surrender as the team moved in on her, assured that this wasn't the place she was to die with her holy mission still yet to be completed. " _Pathfinder"_ SAM's voice popped up from his omnitool, distracting him from the confrontation _. "I've detected multiple kett cruisers incoming. They will be there in ten minutes."_ A timer appeared in the corner of his HUD, counting down towards potential disaster.

The Cardinal smirked as she heard the AI's warning, turning towards her captures. "None will leave here today." Her face turned into a frown as she spied the Moshae being helped to her feet. "You will not take it!" she roared, surging forward only to be stopped short by Drack's iron grip on her shoulder. "It is meant for the Archon!"

Scott's features set in a frown, his tolerance for bullshit having hit his it's limit with everything that he had seen today. "How about I just fuck your shit up? How does that sound?" Sara whistled lowly, her brother only sounded like that right before bad stuff started happening. She subtly began to back up while positioning herself between the Moshae and the scene unfolding before her. The others picked up on her queue, most beginning to duplicate her and back away. Drack simply tightened his grip while positioning himself to Cardinal's side, allowing a clean shot to be had by his leader.

A loud *CRACK* echoed through the hanger, signifying the arrival of Andromeda's only wizard, accompanied by a single angaran female. Harry supported Darra as she worked to regain her equilibrium from her first time apparating. "Hi everyone!" he called out as he half drug the poor woman up the steps to where everyone else was grouped up. "Is there a reason we're standing around instead of leaving before SAM's timer reaches zero?" He stepped around the Cardinal as he moved to talk to the others, offending the kett as she was utterly ignored by the new comer.

Scott waved him aside with his hand, his gun aimed right between the eyes of the kett female who had gone very still as she noticed how close she was to death. "Just tying up a few loose ends Harry. Once we kill the architect of this horror show, SAM will overcharge the EM field and blow this place sky high before the reinforcements arrive." He noticed the counter reach the five minute mark on his display.

"You really shouldn't do that Scott" Harry said as he placed his hand on the barrell of the Pathfinder's gun, pulling it aside to the surprise of everyone else in the room. "You said she is the one behind the exaltation process that SAM showed me earlier right?"

" _That is correct Mr. Potter_ " the AI confirmed. " _She was witnessed injecting the angara earlier with whatever serum initiated the change to turn him into a kett chosen."_

A red flash of light sprang from Harry's hand, hitting the kett with such force that she flew backwards out of Drack's grip. She slammed into the metal barrier behind her before sliding to the ground unconscious. "Then why in the hell wouldn't you want to capture her for information?" the wizard asked as he fixed his sheepish leader with a glare. "She's the closest thing we have to and expert on the subject and I'd assume that the angara would want to find a way to reverse the process."

"When you're right, you're right Harry" Scott muttered. "Drack, secure the prisoner." The krogan grunted as he hefted the kett over his shoulder, elbowing the wizard in the process and sending him stumbling. Scott ignored the byplay between his crew members as he turned towards the door to the landing pad outside. The route was covered in kett, digging in and fortifying their positions. "SAM" he ordered as he cocked his gun, "Set the EM overload for three minutes." The timer adjusted to show three minutes before it began to drop.

"You can't!" Jaal shouted as he stepped forward. "You're dooming every other angara captured in this facility! They're our soldiers, our scientists, our families…" The other angara soldiers shouted their agreement, unwilling to leave their people behind to such a fate.

The Moshae drew herself up to her full height, her very presence quieting down the room as she strode forward. Her voice wasn't loud, yet still was heard clearly by everyone in the hanger. "The Pathfinder has made the correct decision. We can not leave this facility intact for them to just fill up with more of our people again. Sacrifices must be made to ensure our people's future."

Jaal raised up, unwilling to bow to his teachers wisdom in this case. His rebuttal was interrupted though by a softer voice as someone else walked to the center of the group. "They're all safe!" Darra exclaimed, before pointing at Harry. "He saved thousands that were captured. They're all back at the base waiting for us right now!"

"Who exactly are you?" the Moshae questioned as she moved towards the wizard. Her eyes searched over his form, trying to discern how he could have possibly accomplished the feat that one of her people had claimed just now.

"I'm nobody special" the wizard said, glancing meaningfully towards the Pathfinder. "Though I think we should make this quick."

Scott caught the 'help me' look that the wizard shot him, stepping forward to take command. The counter hit thirty seconds on his HUD. "Harry's right. We need to evacuate right now." The wizard conjured a length of rope before casting a quick spell on it, making it glow blue. Scott recognized what was going to happen, grabbing one end of it before walking backwards until it was taunt. "Everyone grab a part of the rope and hold on no matter what" he instructed. The crew immediately followed his instructions, some bracing themselves as if they were about to crash in an escape pod. The angarans followed suit more slowly, confusion on their faces as they mimicked the Milky Way species' actions. "Do it Harry!" the Pathfinder ordered as the counter hit ten seconds.

"Nomad!" the wizard shouted, the room flaring bue for a second before the entire group disappeared with a *Whoosh* of air. Seconds later, kett poured into the hanger from multiple doors. They rushed forward, scanning frantically for their leader and her prize for the Archon. Deep inside the facility, the generators hit critical mass before transferring the overcharge of energy into the EM emitters all at once. The world went white.

 **A/N: Getting kids prepared for a new school year sucks. Hopefully will be picking up the frequency of publishing chapters again soon. And no, I don't wait for the death threats to start before I put the next chapter out. And thank you to the grammer nazi's for pointing out errors and where spell check screwed me on the corrections. They're noted and will be addressed on the revisements.**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Discoveries and Responsibilities

'This really is a beautiful planet' Harry observed as looked out over the lush green valleys of Aya from his seat on top of the Tempest. The Pathfinder and his crew had returned to the angaran capital earlier in the day to deliver Moshae Sjefa back to her people. The rest of the released prisoners had remained behind on Voeld, spread out between the various settlements to help with their recovery while not straining any group's resource too much. It had been an uncomfortable trip for the wizard, to say the least. The Moshae had rapidly recovered from her capture, leaving the Tempest's sickbay within twenty four hours and at the explicit protest of it's doctor Lexi T'Perro. Jaal had fluttered around the elderly angara, determined to care for his old teacher in any way possible. This had lasted for a day before he had been shoo'd away, his instructor claiming to need private time for meditation to deal with all that she had experienced. Unfortunately for Harry, this meant that she always ended up in whatever room that he was currently residing in. No conversation ever occured, the elderly angara content to simply close her eyes and listen to his movements as if she was observing him on a different level than the normal five senses. Needless to say, the wizard had been happy to be rid of his silent stalker when she left the ship with the Pathfinder, Cora and Jaal to go meet with the resistance leader Evfra and the planetary governor Paran Shie.

It had been two hours since the Pathfinder had left the ship and the crew had spread out to work on their personal projects with the available freetime. For Harry, this meant his big book of magic would need a new entry for Aya. He had taken his trusty lab assistant Suvi with himself to the top of their ship, before conjuring two easy chairs with a small coffee table between them. The wizard sat back with a sigh as he sank into the cushions before hitting the lever to allow his feet to be supported in the air. He closed his eyes, contemplating putting the work off to just take a small nap as the warm breeze of the planet passed over him. Suvi clearing her throat brought him back to reality with a small frown, the scientist sitting upright in her chair with his book opened in her lap to the blank page that would soon be filled. At her insistent look, he sighed before releasing his wand from his holster and weaving the complicated spell work necessary. Harry was lucky that Aya's magical field was still strong enough to support him, Voeld's lack of magic causing him no small amount of worry at the costs of repeating the spell there. He heard Suvi gasp as he finished the final portion of the spell, the glow around him fading as it was transferred to the book. The two crewmen watched the planet take shape in the book, one hemisphere shown on each page with room for notes at the bottom. Harry frowned in worry though as the illustration seemed to end early, leaving almost three quarters of the planet blank. 'No…' he thought as he leaned in closer, 'not quite blank.' He traced his finger over the south pole of the planet, the picture zooming to show the area he highlighted. The ink actually left the poles in evenly spaced out lines before petering out a few miles from their origin.

"Are those the planet's ley lines?" Suvi asked softly, leaning in to study the picture. At his nod, she gasped in surprise "But.. those barely cover a portion of the planet. What about the rest of it?"

Harry shrugged, sitting back in his chair as he contemplated the new information. He had never seen a planet that had it's magic partially blocked before. Ley lines on Earth moved from time to time as natural events like earthquakes, volcanoes, or asteroid impacts altered the topology enough to affect them. Stonehenge had been built by druids on a spot that had a whopping total of five ley lines converging on it compared to Hogwarts's three, allowing for insanely powerful rituals to take place. It had only been magically viable for a few years before an earthquake in Chile had rerouted all the lines, leaving the monument in a magically dead zone and turning it into a modern day tourist trap for muggles. Harry's book showed a good number of the planet's ley lines had all tangled in one continent sized portion. Between that and the broken lines, it appeared that magic was being restricted from the rest of the world though he couldn't ascertain why.

His attention was pulled to his assistant as she pulled up a 3D representation of Aya on her omnitool, moving her arm next to the book to compare to the magical illustrations. "I thought so!" Suvi gloated to herself as she turned the omnitool to show him. "The volcanism that covers Aya coincides with the lack of magic. All of this lush jungle around us is growing directly over the still existing magical ley lines." Turning the page to show the recordings of Eos that Harry had taken earlier, she gestured for him to touch the area of the poles again. The wizard quirked an eyebrow at her excitement, reminded strangely of how Hermione got at the cusp of a break through, before doing as she indicated. The enlarged picture showed that while one in three lines still grew out and traveled the globe in random patterns, the others were cut off near their source just as on Aya.

"Good eyes" the wizard complimented, annoyed that he missed such an obvious fact. He comforted himself with the knowledge that unless one was looking for something specific, it was far too easy to gloss over the little details. "It looks like the magic was damaged on Eos as well, though it was spread more evenly over the whole planet. Might explain why was able to sustain itself better, even if it was still a struggle to survive there." He sighed to himself, frustrated that only more questions seemed to be popping up. Nothing was ever easy for him.

"I don't think you understand just how important this is!" Suvi exclaimed as she turned back to the page of Aya. "This is a scientific breakthrough of epic proportions! The planets appear to directly be affected by the presence of magic!" She quickly flipped back to the pages on Earth, examining the illustrations. "I wish we had more to go on than your recording of our home planet. How do we know if that's the norm or if it's the exception?"

"I don't think you're looking at this the right way. It's like the chicken and the egg " Harry said as he sat up to get a good look at her. "You're assuming that magic prompts life. We were taught that magic comes from life. Earth has as much magic as it does from all the life that has been on it for millions of years. Magic certainly helps a planet's life grow and develop but I don't think it's dependent on it. From what I remember in the briefing that Jien gave the Initiative's investors, the planets here were covered in lush jungles and such. That explains the magic being here." He paused in thought before pulling a small chest from his pocket before placing it on the ground and enlarging it. The wizard threw it open before bending over and putting the top half of his body into it while bracing his feet to keep upright. Soft *thumps* and the rustling of pages could be heard before Harry came back up with another book that appeared to be almost a twin of the one in Suvi's lap. "This was my first try at mapping the planets" he explained as he flipped through the pages. "I took readings of Mars and Luna when I initially travelled around our solar system, but they never shown any readings so I assumed that I hadn't cast the spell right and went back to researching it before I took the Earth reading you have now."

He felt Suvi take a seat on the arm of his chair as he found the Mars illustrations. It showed a planet bare of magic, with the prominent physical locations and colonies spread out over it. He swiped over the south pole with his finger, his breath catching in excitement as he spied a pulse of magic at the bottom of the red planet and the beginning of a ley line. It never would have been visible without knowing to zoom in. "It's been proven that Mars used to have oceans and at least microbial life on it before it's magnetic sphere failed as it's core cooled off" Suvi theorized as she viewed the evidence of magic. "There's plenty of settlers there now as well, so who knows what kind of magic could develop over time." The wizard nodded as he used his wand to transfer the pages to his current 'big book of magic'.

Harry's omnitool chirped, prompting him to activate it and show the Pathfinder staring back at him. "You have a moment?" Scott asked, not bothering to waste time with greetings. The Moshae has gotten Evfra to authorise us access to Aya's core and I want you to come along."

Suvi sighed in frustration, standing up and tucking Harry's book under her arm. "I'm borrowing this" she informed the wizard, patting him on the back before heading back to the ship's hatch. "I'll talk with you later after I study this some more."

Harry waved her off before turning his attention back to the Pathfinder. "I'll be ready to go in a few minutes after I clean up here. Where do you want me to meet you?"

"Don't worry about it" Scott said as he grinned at his friend. "We've sent someone to retrieve you. "They'll be there soon so keep an eye out." The screen winked out leaving a confused wizard at the Pathfinder's deliberate evasiveness. Deciding to ignore it for the time being, Harry vanished the chairs and table before shrinking and putting away his trunk. Walking down the length of the ship, the wizard sat down on the base of the ramp and proceeded to bring up a game to play on his omnitool while he waited.

He was so engrossed in beating the level that he never even noticed he had company until the world went dark as a slender pair of hands covered his eyes from behind. "Guess who" a familiar voice commanded.

The cool, somewhat rough texture of the skin narrowed down the choices. The skin's coolness eliminating humans while the lack of talons showing it wasn't Vetra. He sat there silently as he tried to figure out the identity before a tingle came from the hands, sending a pulse to his magical core. "Darra?" he questioned, feeling the hands fall away from his eyes and allowing him to spin around. Black eyes with icy blue irises over a soft smile greeted him as she took a step back to give him room to stand up.

"Greetings Harry Potter. It's good to see you again in a non combat environment. I have been sent by the Moshae to escort you to the rest of your crewmen who are visiting the vault."

"It's good seeing you again too Darra" the wizard said with a chuckle as he walked alongside her into the city. "My friends just call me Harry though." He waved away the angara's concerned look, "Trust me. You definitely are a friend after everything we've gone through together." He reached over and gave her hand a soft squeeze before letting go and continuing on.

Darra looked at her hand for a second, still able to feel phantom sensations from how easily the wizard was able to interact with her bioenergy. "Thank you... Harry. Was touching my hand a human custom?"

The wizard simply waved it away as he followed her. "Physical contact is an important way of communication between humans. A handshake can signify greeting someone, while a touch can be used to convey anything from sympathy to romance. Even authority can be expressed by taking a person's hand and leading them like a parent would with a child. It just depends on your intention at the time." He grinned to his friend as they walked through the docks, dodging around a group of angara haggling over a price on an item. "Part of learning about humans is learning to interpret what we mean though physical contact as well as language."

"I understand…" Darra said softly as she walked along. Reaching over she took his hand in hers as they continued on, the familiar pulse of their energies mixing, giving her a relaxing feeling. "I see no reason to stop my lesson early."

XXXXXX

"Thank you for joining us Wizard of the Initiative." Harry stopped short at the new greeting from the Moshae, unsure of just what was going on. He could almost hear the capital letters in the new title. A light shove to his back by Darra prompted him to step forward and join the elder angara at the remnant holographic table. He looked around the room, searching for the other members of his team, only to realize that he was alone with the two aliens. The Moshae gave him a soft smile as she ran her hand along a glyph on the table, making the screen come to life and show Aya rotating above them. "Do not be alarmed young one. Your crew members are being escorted by Jaal as they explore the remnant facility. The Pathfinder has already agreed to work with us to activate the remnant facilities on each of our planets in the hope of aiding my people." She gestured to the planets holographic image, the volcanic fields highlighted as they consumed most of the planet's surface. "Darra has told me about your gifts that she has witnessed being used to help our people. I hoped to get your input on what could possibly be done to improve my people's chances of survival. This facility is already fully active, but only seems to be targeting a single portion of the planet to heal after the scourge nearly destroyed it."

Harry weighed his options carefully in his head, the need for keeping his knowledge secret warring with his need to help others. Coming to a decision, he raised his omnitool and activated the comm function. "Suvi, can you please send me digital images of Earth, Aya, and Eos from my book? I need them to explain a theory."

"If you're sure Harry…" the scientist said, her voice showing her worry.

The files instantly downloaded before Harry loaded them to two spare data pads for two ladies in the room. "I did a scan of the energy I refer to as magic a few hours ago. If you look at the other images, they also show scans of Eos as well as my home world of Earth back in the Milky Way." He waited for the Moshae to review the files, nodding her understanding before he continued. "If you switch to Earth's image, you'll notice the presence of magical ley lines that run under its surface and criss cross all over the globe. Eos has this as well, though in far less numbers. Aya seems to only have them in the same portion of the planet affected by the remnant facility."

"Do you think that one affects the other?" Darra questioned, gesturing with her pad towards the large display in the center of the room. "Does the magic only work in healed parts of the world, or does the remnant only work in areas with magic?"

Harry shrugged, unwilling to guess on such an important subject to himself. "I don't know what is cause and what is effect. I do believe that they are connected though since my magic seems to resonate with the energies used by the remnant technology."

"You 'believe' doesn't mean the same thing as you 'know'" the Moshae observed shrewdly as she turned to the map herself, frowning as she processed the new information and making connections in her brain. "I can't help but wonder how the lack of this 'magic' could possibly affect my people's physiology. Living on Voeld since the ice age began has required our people to use portable sunlamps. Without the light we start to lose our bioelectricity until it severely damages our health. Could it just be a coincidence of this lack of magical energy or something more."

"My bioenergy synced with Harry's magical field almost as easily as if he was Angara" Darra commented as she moved to the wizard's side. "The other five all reported a similar experience when questioned later after the rescue was completed." She ran her hand through his hair again, shivering slightly at the sensation of it's softness against her skin while the wizard barely noticed as he was used to it by now. The Moshae smiled softly as she watched the interaction, interested in the way her new pupil reacted to the physical stimuli.

"We don't have any real proof yet for any of it. It's just theories until then" the wizard said, noticing movement out of the corner of his vision. Harry looked up, spying Scott waving him over from across the room. Offering a quick apology to the Moshae he walked towards his boss, unaware of the disappointed look that crossed Darra's face as contact was broken between them again.

"I didn't mean to pull you away" the Pathfinder apologized as the wizard approached him, "but SAM needed you for something and didn't feel comfortable interrupting you. I'll keep them busy until you get back" he gave Harry a pat on the shoulder before walking towards the Moshae.

The wizard's omnitool glowed orange as the AI inhabited it. "I apologize Mr. Potter but I did not want to interrupt your conversation with a leader of the angara species. The Pathfinder had the political clout to pull you away."

"Don't worry about it SAM. These things happen." Harry automatically began to follow the directional arrow broadcast by the AI, already trained to do so after working together to repair the Hyperion. "What was so important that you needed to pull me out of the control center when we were getting close to a break through?"

"That wasn't the control center Mr. Potter" the AI informed him as he turned a corner, waving at Jaal and Cora where they were taking readings on another alien tree planted in an underground garden. "You were merely in the communication hub used to coordinate between the different remnant facilities. The control center is around the next corner, access appears to be similar to how Eos was."

The wizard sighed as he found another gravity well surrounded by an energy field holding up shifting pieces of metal plates. "If we're going to do this again, then I'm not going alone this time. Let's get you back in your new body SAM." He pulled the shrunken robotic body from the pouch around his neck and returned it to its original size. He had initially planned on pulling it apart with PeeBee but had been side tracked with the multiple projects that he had already taken on.

Sweeping his omnitool over the motionless body, a stream of orange particles appeared to leap from his omnitool to settle on the robot. Silence reigned for a moment before the head slowly raised up, orange eyes glowing on an otherwise featureless mask as the rest of the body began to activate. Arms flexed as the snake like tail stretched itself out before propelling the robot forward to Harry's side. "I am ready Mr. Potter" SAM reported, his eyes already scanning the energy field for any hidden surprises.

Nodding, Harry sucked in a deep breath before placing his hands against the energy barrier. He winced as the energy entered his body again, forcing his mind to ignore the pain as he pulsed his core. The surge felt much less powerful this time than on Eos as it flowed into his magic core and back out through his other arm again. It took less than three seconds for the remtech to identify his magical signature and lower the barrier for him and SAM to enter the gravity lift.

They arrived in a small room with one wall covered in a giant glass window that overlooked an enormous cave that housed multiple reactors identical to the ones in the previous vault they had visited. What made things interesting though was that only one in three of the reactors were active, much of the energy generated arced off of the active reactors in giant bolts only to hit a dead one and disappear with no visual effect. "It's almost like it is malfunctioning" he observed out loud as SAM slithered over to a console behind him and began to interface.

"You are correct Mr. Potter" the AI said as it examined the data. "It appears that whatever source the remnant use for power doesn't have enough to activate the full complex resulting in only a partial recovery of the planet." The robot paused for a moment, his eyes flickering rapidly as it's processors rapidly compiled the data from the remnant servers. "I can give you admin access to this planet's vault, but you will have to repeat the interface process again" it indicated towards a specific chair in front of the main console much to the wizard's dread.

"Fuck my life" the wizard muttered to himself as he slowly approached the admin chair, dreading what would happen next. The security barrier he found himself under last time had been one of the few moments in his life when he had been truly helpless and he was not eager for a repeat performance.

He felt a metal hand land on his shoulder, pushing him forwards lightly. "Do not concern yourself Mr. Potter" SAM reassured him as he slithered forward to stand beside the chair. "I have already entered your credentials into the system to avoid the security features. You must do the actual activation process though. It appears that the creators of this facility didn't want an AI to have full access without an organic presence."

"That's understandable… no offense SAM" Harry muttered as he stood behind the chair, looking out over the machinery below. An idea began to form in his head, but he held off for the moment as he raised his omnitool to call his leader. "Scott, I need you to evacuate everyone from the vault. SAM and I found the control room and I'm ready to try to interface with it. I don't want a repeat of that security sweep with the death cloud again though. Can you let me know when everyone is safe?"

"Will do Harry. Give me a few minutes to brief the Moshae on what you want to do and I'll give you her decision. Is there a reason for why you want to change things when the facility is already operational?." The Pathfinder questioned as he viewed the room as Harry panned his arm around himself slowly.

Harry panned his camera to show the reactors before bringing his arm back up to his face, surprised to show the Moshae and Darra's faces filling the screen instead of Scott's. "Hello ladies…" he greeted slowly, taking a moment to gather his thoughts as they awaited the answer to Scott's inquiry. "I think we can optimize how the reactors are functioning so we can get more of a bang for our buck." He flinched at their confused reactions, making a note to avoid using phrases like that in the future. "Apologies, I mean I can get a better output by adjusting where the power goes since they seem to possess a synergy when the ones next to them are active too. The hope is that we might be able to recover more of Aya's land from it's volcanism for the angaran people."

The two female angara began to talk excitedly before the camera panned back to Scott. "Good job selling it. Now what's the bad news?" the Pathfinder asked, dreading the answer. Nothing in Andromeda came free for the Initiative. Everything was earned the hard way.

"No bad news" Harry said before SAM signaled him to look at a screen that showed an image of Aya. Two familiar symbols showed at the borders of the liveable continent sending a cold sensation up the wizard's spine. "You just had to fucking jinx us Scott." he complained as he swung the camera to show the screen. "There's two architects here and we need to make sure they won't attack the angara. It looks like I'll need that admin access now more than ever."

The Pathfinder grimaced at the news, his mind flashing back to the battle on Eos that they barely survived with the last titanic remnant machine. "We'll handle this step by step. First things first, let's get this facility operating properly for our allies. I'll let the Moshae know what's happening. Let's get to work."

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"I hate you so much right now Scott." Sara stood side by side with her brother on a grassy hill overlooking the start of Aya's volcano fields. It was an incredible site with miles of constant eruptions as far as the eye could see, spewing tons of super heated rock into the air. None of this held her interest though as she watched a spaceship sized remnant snake robot from hell slowly circle the air above them as it scanned the area for threats.

"I wouldn't have anyone else here to watch my back Sara" the Pathfinder replied seriously, earning him a small smile from his twin. "Just be glad that we don't have to do the talking. It can always be worse…" he trailed off, pointing towards the lone figure a few hundred feet ahead of them. Sara bit her lip as she stared at thier friend as he slowly made his approach towards the architect. She shouldered her assault rifle, keenly aware that if this went belly-up, there wouldn't be much she could do to help.

" _Scott?"_ the comm on his omnitool came to life with the wizard's voice. Scott stared at it dumbly for a second before an elbow to his side from Sara rebooted his brain. He gave an affirmative to the wizard, looking up to see Harry turned towards them in the distance. " _Do you feel that?"_

Sara frowned in concentration, closing her eyes to try to block out the distractions around her. She took her helmet off, letting the super heated air from the nearby lava flow over her skin yet she still couldn't feel whatever the wizard did. The ground trembled. She looked to Scott in alarm, his features reflecting her emotion as they both recalled the events from the last time the ground shook. The tremors began to grow, making it tough for her to keep her footing. All of a sudden the earth nearby raised up as if it was a bubble before beginning to sink downwards. "Run!" Scott shouted, shoving her hard in the shoulder towards where their angaran friends were parked in thier shuttle. Sara sprinted for the ship, her brother's heavy breathing behind her confirming that he was able to keep up with her pace.

Daara threw open the door to the shuttle, waving them in as she looked behind their backs in shock as the ground began to cave in on itself in a giant sinkhole. "Hurry!" she urged, grabbing Sara's hand and pulling her up into the cargo bay. "Jaal is prepping for take off right now!" She looked past Scott, before her face took on a look of panic. "Where's Harry?" she demanded of the Pathfinder as he pulled himself up. "Why isn't he with you?"

Scott wordlessly pointed towards the wizard as he stood his ground in the distance. "Don't worry Darra, he has it handled." He prayed that his friend wouldn't make a liar out of him by getting himself hurt. "Believe it or not, he can speak to the remnant. He managed to talk down the last architect we encountered before it turned into a complete bloodbath." He moved to the cabin, signalling for Jaal to take off and circle around the scene below while staying well out of range. Darra and Sara remained at the cargo door as the ground fell away, both suffering from anxiety as they watched a second architect emerge from the hole. The snake like robot gently floated into the air before letting out a metallic screech that was returned by it's brother a moment later. They began to lower themselves, landing in tandem on either side of the wizard and boxing him in between them. Slowly their heads lowered, maws opening up to reveal energy building in preparation to fire. They screeched again, though this time the wizard responded with a hissing shout of his own while an opaque blue energy dome flared to life around him.

"I can't believe it" Sara whispered to herself, though Darra cocked her head barely able to hear her over the rushing air. "He's actually doing it again." The maws had closed at this point, though both snakes still remained dangerously close to the wizard as they began to converse.

Minutes passed before Sara's omnitool activated itself. " _Guys?"_ the wizard's voice brought both women a rush of joy as it confirmed that he was still alive and unhurt. " _I need you to land again and make your way over here. All four of you. This is going to be delicate."_

Darra had begun to wring her hands as she stared up at the mammoth remnant machines as the shuttle gently touched down. This was not how she pictured her day would turn out when the Moshae had requested that she assist the Pathfinder and his team. "Do not worry" Jaal said to her as he passed by and jumped down to the ground with the two humans. He turned back, offering her a hand. "The wizard has not led us astray yet. We must place our trust in them like they have in us or we will both fall."

"I know" she reassured her fellow angara as they slowly walked towards where the wizard stood. "I trust Harry with my life. It's those that I don't feel safe around" she indicated towards the architects with a slight shudder."

They arrived just in time to hear Harry give one long final hiss. At the end of it, the first architect opened its core for Scott to interface with it using SAM. The process was repeated a moment later with the second machine before both gave a low screech. "Your orders have been updated" he hissed to the architects, "Your primary role is to heal the planet and protect its inhabitants" he gestured towards the angara.

" **New order is unnecessary"** the second robot hissed, turning its head to regard planets natives. " **We have already been ordered by the creators to protect their legacy. New additions to both friendly and hostile lists have been updated as requested."**

"Well isn't that interesting…" the wizard mused to himself before gesturing to Daara. "You will take orders from this angara, designated Darra until instructed otherwise" he hissed to the first architect. Daara blinked as the mechanical snake turned towards her and seemed to bow it's head. Her omnitool, gifted to her earlier by the Pathfinder, lit up with a new link to the architect. She felt light headed as she realized the responsibility that had been placed on her by her friend. She came out of her thoughts just in time to see the second machine being assigned to Jaal. Her fellow angara taking his new position much better than herself, his eyes practically shining with thoughts of how he could help his people.

All of a sudden, both of the snakes' heads jerked towards the sky as if tracking something unseen. With a mechanical roar, they took off. They disappeared from the naked eye within moments as they gained altitude at an amazing pace. Feeling her arm vibrate, she looked at the new message on her omnitool. "They detected a kett ship inbound to Aya" she said in a near whisper. It was every angara's worst fear that the kett would eventually discover the hidden sanctuary of her people from its hiding place within the scourge.

Kallo's voice was heard coming from Scott's omnitool as he updated the pathfinder to the status of the intruder. "The kett cruiser is damaged from the scourge. It's listing badly to the side indicating compromised stability and inadequate thrust ratios. Fighters are deployed around it for protection. They have not detected us from our hiding spot on the dark side of the planet's moon. ….. Wait! Remnant designation architect has just engaged the kett ships. ….. Kett cruiser is severely damaged from particle beams, attempting to escape back into the scourge field …. Cruiser has been obliterated! Direct hit to their engine core only cause for such destruction …. Fighters cleared from air …. Remnant are returning to Aya …. Will sweep system for any hidden kett before returning to port."

No one said anything for a moment back on the grassy field, each lost in their own thoughts. Daara felt her body practically sag with relief as her people were still safe, the kett not having long enough to send a warning before they were destroyed. Jaal could only grin in pride, showing Daara a note on his omnitool indicating that his architect was the one to get the killing shot on the cruiser. His fellow angara rolled her eyes at his antics before shoving his shoulder in exasperation. The twins held a whispered conversation between the themselves, discussing the possible diplomatic implications this would have between the Initiative and the angara. Harry simply looked around himself before loudly clapping his hands and gaining everyone's attention. "So…. Who's hungry?"

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Harry sighed to himself as he sat on a bench on the upper level of the arboretum in the Nexus. The amount of work he had to put in to get a moment of free time was getting larger and larger. The wizard had managed to distract PeeBee by giving her SAM's appropriated remnant robot body to play with. The asari had given him a quick peck on the cheek before taking her new prize off to who knows where to begin taking it apart. Vetra had received an expensive bottle of dextro-brandy on the condition that she enjoy it with Sid. The turian had given him a quick nuzzle on the top of his head before walking off, already calling her sister to find a place to meet up.

Cora had refused to be bought off, having demanded for him to spend some free time with her in repayment for not getting to work with him at all on the last mission. He chose to introduce her to his trunk that he had used to store all of the seed samples he had collected from the open market that he kept under stasis charms. It was effectively his own personal seed vault from not only Earth, but also had samples of common plants from most of the council homeworlds and a few of the larger human colonies. He had left her there after she had found his rose selection, her face pressed up to the glass containers like a kid outside of a candy shop.

He had made it to the top of the loading ramp when he heard a throat cleared behind him. Turning slowly revealed Sara leaning on the door frame wearing a hoodie and a pair of spandex pants, her arms crossed and a light scowl on her face. She said nothing as if he was simply expected to automatically know why she was mad at him. Harry could have played twenty questions with her to figure out the source of her irritation, but just didn't find the patience to deal with it right then. It was time to use one of his secret weapons. Taking the burnette's hand, he led her back into the main area of the ship, pausing in front of the door to the Pathfinder's quarters and indicating for her to open it. Sara placed her palm on the panel, opening the door before her hand was grabbed again. She was drug to the foot of the large bed, a blush glowing on her face as her mind began to picture all kinds of kinky scenarios, each dirtier than the last. Harry reached into his pocket, pulling out a long piece of silk that he proceeded to tie around her eyes and blocking her vision. Sara's breathing quickened as her excitement grew. She felt herself slowly turned around before she was gently pushed backwards. Her back landed on the bed, her body tensed as she waited to feel the weight shift from him joining her. She frowned in confusion when she felt something light and warm land on her chest instead. She reached up to it, feeling her hand brush through soft, fluffy fur. Pulling her mask off, she found she was alone in the room with the familiar orange kitten curled up in a ball on her chest purring contentedly. Sitting up, she realized that there were at least ten more kittens of various breeds all playing with each other on the bed. Her heart melted at the sight.

Harry had just made it to the top of the ramp again when he heard a girlish squeal of happiness echo from farther in the ship. Grinning to himself, he hit the button to open the ramp and walked down into the hanger. The first blast of recycled air hit him, the smell just slightly different than the ship and reminding him that he was finally on board the space station proper. "It's about time husband" a low, yet feminine voice greeted him as Kesh pushed herself off of her place along the wall. "Are you spending the day with me again, or do you plan on buying your way out of it?"

"I do plan on hitting the bar with you later" Harry admitted, getting a wide grin from the krogan as she remembered the last time they had gone out. "I'm taking a little time for myself first though. I have something that you're absolutely going to love." Pointing his palm towards the far wall, he cast a quick _bombarda_ with just enough power to punch a hole through the armored surface.

Kesh growled lowly at the damage done to 'her' station by the man she had been pursuing. "There better be a good reason for doing that. Even you won't get away with causing harm to my baby." Her rant was interrupted as she caught a strange gun by its handle that the wizard had suddenly tossed her way. It looked like a standard handgun but it had a circular disk at the end of the barrell with a purple gem in it's center. A large block sat at the base of the grip with a digital display on it showing '100' at the moment. The wizard pantomimed shooting the gun at the damage, receiving a raised eyebrow from the krogan before she duplicated his movement and fired the gun. A white beam left the pistol, crashing against the wall before the energy seemed to be absorbed by the surface. She was about to start complaining that nothing had happened when a large piece of debris flew from across the room to the center of the hole. More chunks followed before the hole was soon filled in. She fired the gun once again causing the damaged area to fuse together, looking as if the wall had never been harmed. The display on the gun blinked a red '15' at her before it slowly started moving back up to '100' again a moment later.

"Repair gun, self charging. Don't use on anything with too many electronics" the wizard explained as he walked towards the door to the docking bay. He was lifted off the floor as a pair of scaly arms encircled him before spinning him around as Kesh cackled with glee. She put him down before walking back towards her office, casually shooting anything that struck her fancy. A path of cleanliness marked path, looking almost out of place on the damaged station.

XXXXXX

The wizard closed his eyes as he listened to the leaves in the tree move with the air flow. It reminded him of happier times back at Hogwarts when he would sit by the lake with Hermione during spring. She would work ahead on her homework while he would simply lay there with his eyes shut and just 'feel' the magic as it almost flowed around him. A shadow fell across his face prompting him to open his eyes, revealing Jien Garson as she stood over him with a soft smile on her face. "Hey there Harry. How about you buy me a drink and we can discuss the last mission? I just finished speaking with the Moshae and she had an interesting request I wanted to float by you." Taking her hand, the wizard allowed himself to be pulled to his feet and towards the bar.

 **A/N: The divergence has begun. The main plot line will still be upheld to an extent, but we'll see how many plot holes can be filled in along the way.**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Freezing My Quad Off

The leadership of the Initiative was many things. Intelligent, cunning, resourceful, and even loyal could be used to describe them at various points. 'I doubt the word formal will ever be used though' Harry reflected to himself amusedly as he purchased his drink at the bar and made his way to the back corner where a large circular table sat. It was already occupied by Scott and Sara as well as most of the Initiative's leadership.

The militia chief Tiran Kandros seemed particularly pleased with the wizard, taking the opportunity to clap Harry on the back with a heavy talon and almost spilling the human's drink in the process. "I love how you managed to sick the remnant on those kett bastards! Pondromos has already reported the kett being driven off by Eos's architect three different times as they tried to re-establish a presence there." He took a huge pull of his dextro ale, scowling into his mug. "I knew it was a terrible idea to not come better armed." Kesh nodded her head rapidly in agreement, already deep into the ryncol that she had brought to the meeting. Slamming her keg down, she frowned at the large dent that now showed on her portion of the table. Then with a giggle, the female krogan pointed her repair gun at the damage and fired a quick beam, turning it back pristine again.

Foster rolled her eyes at the display, somehow feeling that a drunk krogan with a repair gun could only end badly for everyone. She would be damn if she had to be the one to wrestle the inebriated krogan away from her new toy though. Turning back to her turian colleague, she threw a wadded up napkin at his head to shut him up. "You know damn well why we didn't bring them Tiran. You even agreed to it before we left. No one could predict something like the kett happening. And it's no use arguing about it now."

"That's right!" Jien chirped from her seat next to Harry. She slapped the wizard on the shoulder as she leaned on the table to face him. "Besides, Harry has bought us some time with these architects to let us come up with a long term plan. The Moshae sends her thanks by the way" she said to the man next to her. "Her people are beginning to feel much better with the presence of the new guardians for Aya. So where are you off to next?" she asked Scott and Sara.

The twins looked up from their impromptu arm wrestling contest, surprised at being addressed when they had been allowed to fade into the background earlier in the night. Scott took advantage of the distraction to slam his sisters arm down on the table, gloating over his win as only a sibling could. Clearing his throat, he turned to his bemused leader while grabbing his drink. "Eos still seems to be handling itself well and we're still waiting on word from the angara to see if any changes will happen on Aya after the vault there was re-calibrated. Now that we've made progress on cementing our alliance with the angara I think we should look back to finding planets that can host settlements for our people."

"That's exactly what I was going to suggest" Jien agreed with a nod, frowning as the table continued to move for a second after her head stopped before everything cleared up. It seemed her alcohol tolerance had taken a hit during the long hibernation. "I asked the Moshae about the Initiative settling on angara planets, but she said she couldn't give permission for it. Each of their planets has a leader that we'll have to work with to earn their trust before we are able to establish an outpost. I want you to set your sights on Voeld next. We've already established some good will there thanks to your rescue mission and I think we have a good chance of winning over the local population."

Harry shivered at the mention of the frozen planet, internally dreading having to set foot back in the ice storm again. "There's actually colonists willing to settle there?" he couldn't help but ask. "It's like trying to live in Siberia during winter… in an ice age! How could people want to make a life there? It's an active war zone with the kett."

Sara slapped his arm lightly as she moved to sit next to him and join the conversation, dislodging Kesh who had taken to resting her head on the table. "This whole portion of the galaxy is an active warzone Harry. It isn't going to get any better somewhere else. You've been lucky so far. The Hyperion just docked and you've been allowed to explore space on one of the only remaining scout ships. The poor folks here are either still in cryo or survived an uprising from friends and family after being stuck here for a year with dwindling supplies and no hope. Somewhere like Voeld would be a step up after that." The wizard looked down at the table, his mind whirring a mile a minute as he reflected on her words. Sometimes it really was easy to lose sight of the big picture when buried in everyday survival. He began to feel the slightest bit of sympathy for what Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix might have gone through before violently squashing it. The difference was that he was at least willing to swallow his pride and listen to the viewpoints of others, unlike those old fossils who had died for their outdated beliefs.

"Speaking of the the rebellion" Jien raised her voice, segueing into the next matter at hand. "I need to re-establish contact with the outcasts and krogan again. We have too small a population as it is without excommunicating a fifth of our people, let alone an entire species!" She ran her fingers through her hair in frustration, unable to believe how bad things had gone in just a year while she was gone. "The worst part is that we still haven't heard anything from from the other Arks. The escape pod from the Leusinia that you found on Voeld was the closest thing we've had to word of their survival. We're sending out recon probes to any system we can, but your team needs to take the lead on the search. We need our people back."

"We're gonna need more repair guns" Scott muttered to himself, glancing at the sleeping krogan as she snored softly. He hooked a thumb at her while turning towards the wizard friend. "Go take your wife home and meet us back on the ship Harry" he ordered with a huge grin. He received a middle finger in acknowledgement from the grumbling wizard. Harry shotgunned the last of his drink before casting a quick featherlight charm on the krogan. He hefted her over his shoulder with one hand, gesturing with the other at Scott as he passed by.

Laughter erupted around the table as everyone stared at Scott. The Pathfinder was feeling left out, unable to understand what was so funny. A passing waiter grinned at him while subtly running a hand over his forehead at the customer's confused expression. Scott snatched up one of the metal drink cups, angling it to show his face. 'ASSHOLE' was written across the top of his brow, blinking in neon pink letters. Thinking quick, he whirled around in his seat as he activated his omnitool. Harry's only warning was an orange light that swept over him and Kesh before his spell on the krogan dissipated and he felt his knees buckle. He pitched backwards onto the floor with a squawk of alarm, five hundred pounds of sleeping krogan following him down. Kesh smiled in her sleep, wrapping her arms around her new body pillow and inhaling it's scent deeply. The wizard frowned to himself as he lay pinned under the content krogan, unable to even twitch a body part anywhere below his neck. A flash of light pulled his attention upwards catching Scott in the act of taking a photo on his omnitool of the scene. The neon letters still flashed on the man's forehead as he turned his device to show the wizard the new blackmail material. "This isn't over!" Harry shouted after him, only to be ignored by the rest of the group as they made their way out of the bar.

Only two women were left at the table, frowning at the scene as they tried to figure out how to rescue the wizard from the snuggling dinosaur laying on top of him. "Asshole" Jien and Sara muttered at the same time before glancing at each other.

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"For the last time Jaal! Scott set me up for a joke. It wasn't voluntary." The wizard sighed in frustration as he buried his head in the snow, failing in his attempt to hide away from the world around him. The Tempest had returned to Voeld a few days back and the crew had quickly amassed an extensive list of missions to help the angaran resistance push back the kett. Many of them we're high priority and involved literally racing to different locations to assist in firefights or rescue captured angara from kett processing facilities before they were shipped out. At the moment, the team was buried into a snowy hillside overlooking a kett outpost. Angaran intelligence had received a tip that a high ranking kett official would be visiting the outpost today and the resistance wanted him captured for interrogation. Surveillance was the name of the game for the moment as the crew followed the time honored tradition of hurrying up and waiting.

The angara could not understand what had agitated his fellow crewman to such an extent over a simple question. "I apologize Harry. I simply was curious as to what made a species attracted to a another race of beings. The kett were the only other species ever encountered by the angara and they lack any kind of reproductive organs. The whole concept of interspecies dating is new ground to us. The picture Scott had of you laying with a krogan female made me curious as to whether you were open to such things and I wanted to see if you could share your thoughts on it." He took a moment to adjust the sight on his rifle, making sure the snow hadn't affected it.

"I never had that much of an issue with interspecies dating" the wizard reflected, not noticing the sighs of relief that came over the radio from two sources. "We had many different sentient magical species where I lived. Most cross species relationships were frowned on by the purist faction but it didn't stop it from happening. I heard that a wizard had slept with a giantess who was over twenty feet tall years before I was born. Their child, Hagrid, was one of my teachers and was ten feet tall himself."

"How do you think that even worked?" Scott mused as his eyes scanned over the base. No kett sentries were present, the pervasive cold driving the aliens back into the base. Warming charms from Harry were the only thing keeping his team alive at this point. "I don't think that could physically happen."

"Engorgement charms" was the answer from their magic man. "Strategically placed engorgement charms. Never leave them on for more than half an hour and consult a healer if anything doesn't look normal afterwards." Silence reigned over the radio for half a minute as his words were processed before laughter almost overloaded the line with its volume.

"Don't worry Jaal" Liam's voice carried over the angara's radio, the poor man wheezing as he tried to get control of himself again. "Human's thought about the same question when we first joined the intergalactic community. The answer of course, is Fornax. Luckily for you I have an entire collection of it from it's first issue all the way to the last printed before we left the Milky Way." Jaal's omnitool lit up with a new message from his crewmate.

The angaran sucked in his breath in surprise as a clearly naked human woman was wrapped in the pink tentacles of a large aquatic creature. Her expression was a mix of anxiety and ecstasy if he was reading it right, increasing his curiosity enough to make him turn on the video attached to it. "Oh my…" he murmured as the show began to play.

Liam felt proud of himself. He was able to spread the love that was Fornax on to a new market and ensure his crewmate's questions had answers. His good deed for the day had been done, mission accomplished! Unfortunately Cora seemed less than pleased with his attempt to bridge the cultural divide. "Did you just spread some of the most graphic porn available to a species that we're barely out of first contact stage with?" she asked, her tone laced with scorn.

"You can't truly understand a species until you've seen it's porn" was the quick reply from the ex law enforcement officer. There, that was a good argument as far as he was concerned. "I'm just being fully open and honest with a fellow crew mate. You may not like it Cora, but they would have found it anyways. I'm just making sure it's on our terms." Liam chuckled to himself as he forwarded the attachment to Scott and Harry as well. "Let me know if you want a copy of it later."

"As if" the blonde woman muttered to herself as her biotics flowed over herself for a moment from her embarrassment before she regained her control. Cora smiled as she found the email, forwarded by Harry already in her mailbox. She'd check it out later in privacy.

"Potter…" a deep voice was heard on the team channel. A growl accompanied it, so low that it was barely audible over the comms. "Who was the female krogan that you were sleeping with?"

The wizard was saved by the drone of engines as a kett dropship passed by overhead, circling the base before touching down on the landing pad. A kett similar in build to the cardinal, flanked by two destined exited the ship and began to walk down the ramp to the main base. The dropship lifted off, barely clearing a few dozen feet in altitude before a large ball of dark energy penetrated it near the engines and exploded. The kett watched awestruck as pieces of the ship fell to the snow, unable to take their eyes away from the terrible beauty of the destruction. Harry used the distraction to apparate in behind the kett leader with a loud crack. He sent a quick sucker punch into the chin of the kett as it turned in surprise at the noise, stunning the alien enough to let him place a hand on it's shoulder. He turned in place, preparing to apparate back to his starting point with his victim just as the guards started to react. Harry appeared back on the other side of the hill his team had camped on, his prisoner in tow. The kett had bigger concerns than his current location though, seeing as how his right leg was missing from the knee down and leaking a liberal amount of blue tinted blood onto the snow. "Shit" Harry cursed, shoving it onto it's back. He cast a quick _incendio_ at the stump, cauterizing the wound and causing the alien to pass out from the pain. "Well that didn't go quite as planned... " he muttered to himself before raising his voice as he heard footsteps crunching in the snow behind him. "I got the VIP. You might want to transport him soon though. I don't know how much longer he's going to last."

"What the hell happened to him?" Vetra cried out in shock. The unconscious alien splayed out in the snow with a pool of rapidly freezing blood near the horrible wound was enough to get a reaction from even hardened veterans. "Did your magic do this?"

"Yeah, it did" Harry admitted tiredly as he reached down to pick up something in the snow that he just noticed. "It's called splinching. If someone is inexperienced with apparating, or if they're interrupted during it enough to break their concentration, than parts can be left behind." Reaching down, he picked up a severed kett hand, still wearing the armored gauntlet. "One of his guards managed to get a hand on me right when my spell started. I'm willing to bet that he isn't any happier than this one here." He gave the kett a kick in the side for emphasis.

"Well let's get him loaded up in the Nomad and get back to the team" Vetra said as she bent down, grunting as she lifted the kett over her shoulder. "The others have already begun the assault on the base. I need to make it back soon if I want a chance at any good loot I can sell on the black market." An explosion went off on the other side of the hill, sending a ball of fire lazily rolling into the sky where it disappeared in a cloud of blackened smoke. Drack could be heard roaring in happiness in the distance, letting the two know that the fight was still ongoing.

"Let them have their fun" the wizard said, pulling open the trunk of the vehicle so his turian friend could dump her cargo inside. He frowned for a moment, frustrated that his magic still seemed to drain so quickly with just a few spells. Something on this planet was causing it and he intended to find out what. Slamming the door shut, he pulled a small rectangular device from his pocket. It was made of white metal with a purple gem imbedded in the center of it. A small switch on the side of it cycled between three settings and a digital counter showed a '100' on it's display. "I made this as a prototype, but it still needs to be tested" he explained as he carefully handed it to the turian.

Vetra stared at the small device in her talons, treating it like it was a live grenade. She trusted Harry, but the last display of magic she had seen had shown a little of the darker side of it that he had worked to keep hidden in the past. She wouldn't be taking everything at face value any longer without questioning the underlying purpose behind it. "What am I supposed to do with it?" she asked, holding it as far away from herself as she could without actually dropping it.

He couldn't hide the disappointment in his eyes at her nervousness. 'Too much, too fast' he thought to himself. 'Not everyone will just see a splinching and call it no big deal.' "It's safe" the wizard assured her, placing his hand on top of hers to take the device back only for her to hold it away from him.

"So is a gun" the turian explained gently as she pulled him into a one armed hug. "But without training, it's just as dangerous to its owner as it is to it's enemy." She felt bad about hurting her friend, but he needed to realize that he couldn't go into a combat zone while acting like a civilian. "Turians all serve in the military once we're old enough so the lessons are ingrained in us. You never had any formal military training did you Harry?"

"Only some small unit tactics" the wizard admitted, keeping his eyes on the ground. "And I was training others more than being taught myself. It was the blind leading the blind" he said with a small smile.

"Then I'll be teaching you from now on" said Vetra, her comment coming off somewhere between an offer and an order. She took a moment to embrace him a little harder before releasing him from her hug, wishing it wasn't so cold that they had to remain in hardsuits. "We'll watch each other's backs and if I see something you need instruction on, then I'll make a note to go over it later on the ship. We'll go over weapons training first." She held up a hand to stop him before he could interrupt. "I know you can handle your weapons. You need to learn how to instruct others instead of letting them use trial and error. Now how about you tell me what this new toy can do and we can try it out."

"Well…" Harry began, looking for the right words to use. "I noticed that you're paired up with our biotic powerhouses most of the time but don't really have a way to actively work with them. This might be a solution for it. Turn the switch to the third setting and put it on that rock outcropping next to you. Now press the button next to the gem and remove your hand from the device. It'll activate on it's own in five seconds." Vetra did as instructed, counting down from five in her head. At zero, the rock flashes white before disappearing and the device fell to the ground.

"Where did it go?" she asked as she bent over to retrieve the device, only to stop short as her superior vision allowed her to see a pea sized rock at the bottom of the hole that was shaped the same as the missing, much larger one. "Are you serious?" her voice almost screeched due to her surprise causing no small amount of embarrassment. That hadn't happened since she had finished maturity.

Harry nodded quickly, a huge grin having returned to his face at her reaction. "It's just a basic shrinking charm. Won't work on anything organic. The trick is that both the scanners and biotics disrupt the magical fields so you can cancel it whenever it's convenient for you. You did get the scanner function from SAM with the rest of us right? I got this idea from when Scott played that practical joke on Kesh and I at the bar. I'm sure you've seen the photos…" he trailed off at her scowl before moving on quickly. His eyes scanned the surrounding area for a moment before falling on a lone kett trying to hike through the knee deep snow in the valley below them. He handed her the shrunken stone before pointing at their new target. "Think you can throw that all the way to him?" he asked, pointing towards their unsuspecting victim.

"Easily" was her reply, her arm already cocked in preparation.

"Then here's what I want you to do" the wizard instructed, "but don't act until you've heard it all. Toss it in an arc through the air, then scan it quickly before it goes out of range. You'll absolutely love the results."

Vetra activate her omnitool, bringing up the scanning function. She waited for the wind to die down and threw the rock high into the air. She quickly triggered the scanner, an orange beam flashing out and sweeping over the stone. The rock seemed to shudder in mid air for a moment before a quick flash happened, revealing the giant boulder as it traveled on the same trajectory. It's downward arc began to pick up speed as gravity took hold of the extra mass. The kett noticed the shadow that was now cast over it, barely looking up in time to see it's incoming death before the boulder landed with a loud *thud* throwing snow in all directions.

"You scare me sometimes Harry" Vetra observed as the dust settled. A small pool of blood near the base of the rock was the only sign that a kett had existed at all. The wizard prepared to defend himself before noticing her clip the shrinker to her belt, cleary intent on using it again. "I suppose I should just be glad that you're mine and not the enemy's. I don't know how we'd be able to combat against something like this" she continued, turning to look at him with an unreadable expression on her face.

Harry was distinctly beginning to feel like some sort of prey under her look and averted his eyes back towards the boulder. He followed the kett's tracks back towards the next hill, scowling as he spied a plume of smoke rising into the sky that he hadn't noticed before. "We need to scout that" he said, indicating towards the new point of interest. "I have a strange feeling that it might be important."

"Fine" his turian companion replied, cocking her assault rifle. "But scouting only. We don't get into a fight unless we're sure we can win. I know you're used to working with Drack but not all of us are bullet resistant like he is. Now keep right behind me and let's move."

They set off down the hill, a pair of spells from Harry silencing their footsteps in the snow as they crossed the valley and crested the next hill. They burrowed into the snow on the hilltop, inching forward until they had a line of sight on the cause of the smoke. An initiative shuttle lay in pieces, a trail of fire still burned behind it from the point of impact with the planet to where the pieces had finally skidded to a stop. Three kett were picking through the smouldering wreckage, shifting through debris with their feet and guns. "I think we can take them" the wizard muttered, his head filled with various scenarios of attack.

"What are you proposing?" the turian asked, appreciative of the fact that he hadn't immediately charged in. "We're going to need a way to get rid of all of them at once so they can't report the attack."

"Do you still have any of those grenades I made before we found Aya" Harry asked, getting a nod from his companion. "Prep one. I'm going to draw them closer to us." He ducked behind the hill, quickly rolling three balls of snow that he stacked on top of each other to Vetra's bemusement. He conjured a hat, scarf, sticks, and coal before putting the finishing touches on his snowman. Waving his hand, he banished it to the foot of the hill, twenty feet from the wreckage. Rolling a quick snowball, he threw it at the closest kett before ducking back into the snow again. The alien shouted in alarm as the ball impacted a few feet from him, his eyes immediately scanning for the source of the threat. He grew confused as he spotted the snowman, slowly moving towards it with his two companions in tow. "Throw it now!" Harry hissed getting a nod from the turian. Vetra hit the red button, counting to two before hurling the vanish grenade. It impacted into the side of the snowman before a bubble of white light expanded from it, engulfing the kett as it expanded. A flash of light later revealed three dazed kett laying in a naked pile at the bottom of a ten foot circular hole in the ground. "I'm pretty sure they won't be calling for backup" said the bemused wizard as he stood up and dusted off the snow.

"No, I don't think so either" Vetra said with a chuckle as she started down the hill, her shotgun leveled at the aliens incase they made any sudden moves. Three _stupefies_ from Harry ensured they wouldn't be waking any time soon. "I'm not seeing any bodies" the turian observed as she slowly made her way through the wreckage. "It looks like it's been picked clean already by the kett."

" _Homenum revelio"_ Harry intoned, only to see a slight glow around Vetra and the three bodies in the pitt. "We're alone" he confirmed. "The cargo hold is empty and I don't see anything that could hint of it's reason for being here. What do we do?" he asked.

A slight pop was heard from the front of the ship before Vetra crawled back outside with a metal box under her arm. "We take the flight recorder and see if we can back trace their route." She kicked a piece of the shuttle over, revealing the Initiative's logo with a word written under it in asari. "This belonged to the Ark Leusinia. We might finally have a clue to its whereabouts." She motioned for the wizard to join her as they began their trek back to the Nomad. "Let's go see what damage the others caused without us there."

XXXXX

"Okay, this is where we split up" Scott said as he shifted in the driver's seat to look back at the others crammed into the back of the Nomad. They were currently parked at southern base of the mountain that dominated the local operating area of the resistance. "We have two objectives that need to be done quickly. We have eight hours at best before we need to leave Voeld to pursue the asari Ark. SAM has estimated it to take that long to unencrypt and repair the damaged flight log that Harry and Vetra managed to retrieve." He made eye contact before continuing, "We're still going to help your people as much as possible Jaal but our missing Arks are the highest priority in the Initiative's eyes. We can't dedicate all of our resources until we know the fate of our people."

"Understood" the resistance fighter rumbled from his seat in the cargo hold. "I wouldn't respect anyone not willing to step up and help their people. I will support you in this Pathfinder."

"Thank you" Scott replied as he brought up his omnitool to display a 3d image of the surrounding landscape. "Light it up SAM" he commanded causing an orange arrow to point at the top of the mountain and a second one to point at the center of a valley not too far away. "The remnant vault for Voeld is in the valley marked here. Activating the three pylons caused it to surface and we need to bring it online before the kett choose to investigate. We need to activate the reactors and get Harry to the control room to get admin access to the remnant systems lest we have a architect decide that we are trespassing on its planet." There was a collective shudder at the thought of a starship sized robot holding a grudge against the Initiative. "I'm taking Harry and Liam with me to the vault. Sara and Cora will be leading the rest of you up to about midway up the peak here" he said while pointing at an a cave highlighted by a new orange arrow courtesy of SAM. "Disembark from the Nomad and use the caves to access the kett base at the top of the peak. This is the main kett base for this part of the planet and supplies the air support for the bastards. Removing it from play will allow the angara free reign of the area and will earn the Initiative rights from the local governor to settle a colony. Just clear the base out and radio the resistance when you're done. They'll be sending representatives to search for kett intel." He slammed his fist onto the door controls, involuntary shivering as a blast of cold air flew into the tank. "Good luck everyone. Harry, Jaal, lets go get this over with" he said with a cringe as he jumped out into the cold.

"Here everyone" the wizard said, passing out a group of blue rings that were promptly clipped to everyone's hardsuits. "Password hasn't changed from the last time but it'll transport you to the landing pad outside the resistance base where the Tempest is." He opened the passenger side door, letting Jaal jump out first. "See you all soon. Be safe." He admired the sight of Sara climbing over the front seat to reach the controls before shaking himself and jumping out into the snow. He shut the door before slamming his hand on it three times and jumping backwards. The tank took off with a spray of snow, climbing the mountain side at a surprising clip as it ascended.

The three of them watched their ride disappear into the distance before Scott turned around while shouldering his assault rifle. "They'll be fine" he assured his worried friends. "I made sure they were loaded up with Harry's flamethrowers and those vanish grenades. They'll probably have an easier time than we will. Now let's go and see what we can do about fixing this planet."

"Thank Merlin" the wizard muttered as he began to trudge through the snow. "No offense Jaal, but I can't wait to get off of this planet. I've been freezing my balls off since I got here."

"None taken" the angara said as he activated the scope on his rifle, tapping his eye piece to sync up with the display on the gun. It gave him a telescopic view wherever his gun sights pointed while still allowing him to monitor the area around himself. "I actually understand that term now that I've sampled some of the educational material that crewman Costa has lent me. It seems impractical for males to have external genitalia… too vulnerable. Only you and Drack's species seem to possess them."

Scott tuned them out as they approached the entrance to the vault, scanning the area for any sign of the enemy. The snow appeared undisturbed prompting him to make his way down into the structure, intent on getting away from the blistering winds. The door at the bottom of the ramp opened, revealing a long hallway with a familiar looking pit at the end of it. The gravity well bathed the room in a soft purple glow, almost appearing inviting as they approached it. "Let's hope this goes smoother than last time" Harry muttered to himself as he stepped off the ledge and began to fall slowly down.

Jaal looked across the pit at Scott, a frown on his features as he watched the wizard slowly descend. "Do your people not believe in tempting fate as well? I feel as if Harry's comment is going to come back to haunt us."

"Yeah" Scott said as he ran a hand over his faceplate. "We believe something similar as well. It's why he said it. Some people just can't help themselves." He leapt into the gravity well, feeling the familiar sensation of his stomach dropping out from under him as his momentum ceased before he slowly began to drop down. He had already lost sight of Harry, the wizard having chosen to move on into the facility instead of waiting. The well emptied out into a underground cavern, at least the size of the one in Eos, if not larger. Harry could be seen off to the side of another gravity lift, SAM's lamia robot body in the process of being unpacked to help the wizard again.

"Reactor's over there" the wizard said pointing across a lake of conductive fluid to a far off island. A familiar pyramid like structure could be seen, a white beam of energy shooting off of it into a collection point in the ceiling just waiting to jumpstart the reactors in the distance.

Scott walked to the edge of the lake, mentally charting a path through the hazards that would involve jumping on numerous platforms that emerged from the fluid in strategic locations. 'I feel like I'm in Mario Brothers' he thought to himself as he turned back towards Harry. "Go ahead and do what you need to, then let us know you're good and portkey out. We'll kick off the reactor once you're clear and follow." The wizard nodded before placing his hands on the energy field and beginning to glow softly. Scott walked to the edge of the lake, gauging the distance before jumping to the first set of platforms with an assist from his boosters. A quiet thud signalled that Jaal had landed safely behind him. "You remember the briefing that we gave you about how portkeys work right?"

Jaal reached up to the ring attached to his vest, rolling it in his fingers as he watched the remnant continue their normal maintenance duties in the distance. He was not looking forward to provoking them. "I remember the password" he assured the human before jumping again.

Scott followed closely behind, barely making the leap as the heels of his boots hung over the ledge. "Just be prepared to activate it as soon as I tell you to." He leapt again, now past the halfway point of the lake. "Once the security purge activates, it starts to nullify Harry's magic. We barely survived on Eos and I don't want a repeat." He jumped lightly this time, his landing much easier as the platform wasn't as far away. "One more leap and we activate the remnant" he observed. He cocked his shotgun, mentally preparing himself for battle as he watched Jaal duplicate his actions. "Let's begin" he said as he launched himself into the air.

XXXXX

Harry landed softly in the snow in a crouch. "Halt!" a voice carried across the landing pads as a group of angara raced towards him. "Advance and be… oh, it's you. Your team is waiting back on the ship for you" the guard informed him, pointing back towards the Tempest on the end of the runway. "They managed to take down the kett without any casualties. Practically our entire base is over there sifting through anything we can get our hands on." He frowned, taking a step back as he looked the wizard over again. "Where were you if you didn't stay with the rest of the Initiative?"

Harry waved the concern away, conjuring four easy chairs in the snow. He sighed in relief as he sat down in one before activating the footrest and lounging back to stare up at the stormy sky above. "Come take a load off and sit down. You guys are going to absolutely love this" he waved at the chairs next to him.

The angara shared a uneasy look between them before one tentatively inched forward, running his hand across the chair and pushing down on the fabric. Not seeing anything suspicious, he duplicated the human's actions. He stared up at the clouds, frowning as he brushed the snow off of himself that had already started to collect on his armor. "What is the point of this hu…"

"Wait for it" the wizard cut him off, pointing towards the clouds. A *Whoosh* sounded behind him, followed by two thuds, signalling the arrival of his team mates. The pylons fired beams of energy in the distance, the energy meeting above the vault entrance before shooting into the sky and piercing the clouds. The wind died as if a switch was thrown, the clouds slowly disappearing and revealing the night sky to everyone lucky enough to be outside. An aurora borealis was in full effect as the solar radiation from the sun danced across Voeld's magnetic sphere for all to see.

The angara sat transfixed as they stared up, it being the first time some had ever seen stars before. "The sun's rays will now reach the surface of the planet, helping increase the greenhouse effect" SAM reported from Harry's omnitool. "The average global temperature has already risen twelve degrees and is continuing to slowly climb."

"That's all well and good" Scott said as he approached "but we aren't done yet." He kicked the side of Harry's chair, prompting the grumbling wizard to climb to his feet again. The vacated seat was immediately claimed by one of the guards, the angara leaning back to stare at the celestial wonders laid out above them. "Let's move out" the Pathfinder said as he started walking towards the Tempest. "We need to plant the colony beacon quickly and then we're heading off planet. It's time to find our fist missing Ark."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Badass Biotic Blue Bitches

Captain Elonis Atandra grit her teeth in frustration as the Leusinia shuddered around her. As if trying to navigate the scourge wasn't hard enough, the fucking kett continued to hound them at every turn. They had just escaped another assault from the Decimators, a particularly ruthless group that had been pursuing them for the last week. Captain Atandra breathed in deep as she closed her eyes, shutting out the chaotic sounds around her for a long moment as she centered herself and brought her biotics back under control. She used her new found calmness to assess the situation, observing the other three individuals on her bridge as they frantically worked to save her people's Ark. "We've bought ourselves another day at the most. How many colonists can we evacuate this time before we're found again?"

One of the two bridge crew turned towards her, a maiden named Tessera who barely could be considered an adult but still choose to attempt the transgalactic journey. "We've already sent seven thousand ma'am. If we push it, we can finish clearing the damaged areas. It'll leave us with about twelve thousand colonists in cryo."

"Get started immediately" ordered the captain, pausing to consider the situation. Gathering her thoughts took longer now on day three without rest. 'I'll sleep when I'm dead' she told herself before addressing the other maiden. "Get whatever huntresses we have left thawed out to start a sweep of the Leusinia immediately. And have the ship security provide close cover for the evacuees. I'd bet anything that we have more boarders in the hull breach. It took too long to get underway after that last attack." The maiden acknowledged the order, frantically typing into a console before relaying the orders into her omnitool. "What's the status on our new escape vector?" she asked the last occupant of the bridge, praying to the goddess for some good news.

"I have something" came the tentative answer from the new asari Pathfinder Sarissa Theris, "but I can't promise anything after the last few attempts backfired. We're using the same navigational data as the kett. All they have to do is look at our current course and try to beat us there. Not all that tough considering the state of the ship…" she trailed off at the captain's angry scowl, not wanting to provoke another shouting match when the uppity bitch was already suspicious of what had happened to her predecessor.

"All we can do is continue on, evacuating as many as possible" Captain Atandra said sadly, turning back towards the viewscreen while folding her hands behind her back. "Start praying to whatever deity you follow because we need a miracle."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Pathfinder, I'm picking up a evidence of a recent battle" SAM reported to the bridge crew as the Tempest loitered at the coordinates from the recovered shuttle. "The debris matches the material composition of the Arks."

"Well that's not good" Scott muttered from his position at the Pathfinder station in the center of the bridge. "Combat means kett are still here too and there's no telling what condition the Leusinia is in."

"I'm picking something up on the sensors" Kallo reported from his station. "Could be the Leusinia but it's tough to make out with all of the damn scourge in the area. We can be there in two hours" he said as he began entering the route into the console.

"Make it so" Ryder said with a grin, prompting a groan from Suvi and his sister. 'Can check that off the bucket list' he told himself as he turned to leave, taking the opportunity to shoulder check Sara in the process. It was the little things that made life worth while after all, though he would end anyone else who gave his sister a hard time. He sent out a notification to the rest of the ground team as he neared the cargo bay.

The door opened to a scene of controlled chaos. Cora was shouting commands at the rest of the crew, having taken it upon herself to make sure everything on the mission went like clockwork. Liam, Jaal, and Gil frantically worked to prepare the team's weapons and armor for zero-g combat, the angry eyes of the female biotic burning a hole in the backs of their heads. Even Drack was diligently cleaning his weapons, only because he wanted to though.

The deck vibrated under his feet as the engines pulsed. Kallo was manually piloting the ship through the scourge, making minute course changes to avoid the deadly tendrils of dark energy. Making it to the back of the bay, Scott frowned as he saw that the ramp was down. Perched at the edge of it was Harry and Vetra, both facing out into space. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he called out as he engaged his magnetic boots, slowly making his way down the ramp while holding onto the guide rail.

"My repair spells won't work without the broken parts. Without them its creating something from nothing which takes a crap load more energy and isn't permanent" Harry shouted over his shoulder. An orange reticle was beamed out over a specific part of the open space from one of SAM's sensors. The wizard quickly sent a blast of light in that direction. Moments later a large piece of hull flew at him before vanishing seconds before impact. Vetra grunted as she adjusted the straps of the backpack attached to the gravity gun she held. "SAM's highlighting any wreckage we pass with his targeting reticles and we're pulling it into an empty chest that I stuck to the bottom of the ramp."

Vetra's eyes narrowed as sunlight glinted off something metallic in the distance. She raised the gravity gun and activated the 'pull' trigger before SAM could even highlight it. A huge antenna with the Initiative logo flew towards them. Scott flinched, expecting to be hit when the debris shrunk to a fraction of its original size and was pulled into the trunk. "That's another one for me Harry" she said with a superior grin towards the wizard. "Don't forget. If I win then I get to ask you for one thing that I want, no questions asked." Her eyes returned to the void as it flew by, hunting for her next target.

Harry rolled his eyes at Scott before sending off another spell. "She set that rule herself. And I Never Agreed To It!" he shouted over to Vetra. He was promptly ignored. "Our gear is already set to go" he informed the Pathfinder who was beginning to get into the game. "I have a repair gun for each one of the team set to go. Just remember not to point it at anything delicate, explosive, or remotely electronic if you don't want something bad to happen. I'd suggest structural only just to be safe."

"Works for me" Ryder replied, patting the wizard on the shoulder in thanks. "We arrive in ninety minutes or so. Meet the team up in the cargo bay when it's time." The wizard and the turian both gave him affirmative gestures, unable to turn away and risk losing a point. Chuckling, Scott made his way back up the ramp to finish the prep.

XXXXXX

"You really need to calm down Cora." Said woman glanced up from where she sat in the shuttle, seeing the concerned looks from Harry and Scott as they sat across from her. They along with Sara who was piloting were the first wave of borders, the rest waiting in reserve for Scott's signal. No need to startle the colonists with a new alien species like Jaal or exposure to Drack in general.

"I'm trying Scott, but you don't know what it's like." she said while casting her eyes down to the ground. "I trained with asari huntresses for years, perfecting my biotics and team tactics with them. I was never quite good enough no matter how hard I tried. They never said it, but no one ever wanted the human in their team when it came time for missions. This is my chance to prove that I am worth all the time and training they put into me. Especially Sarissa Theris. She was one of the best huntresses ever and I've studied all of her teachings." A snort from her not so secret crush brought her out of her monologue, seeing him shaking his head in her direction. "You have something to say Harry?" she asked, her voice coming across more aggressive than she had intended.

The wizard held up his hands, quickly shaking his head. "It's not about what I think. If you want to go so far to impress them than they must have made a big impact in your life and it isn't my place to say anything." He relaxed as she began to calm down, feeling as if he had dodged a bullet. "I just wonder if you're going about it the right way. I had a friend that could memorize a spell book's contents word for word. Her knowledge about magic dwarfed mine any day of the week. Her problem though, was that theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge are two different things. Knowing something without having the common sense to tell you when and how to use it is useless in the real world."

"He's right!" Sara shouted over her shoulder from the cockpit, not taking her eyes off the instruments for a second. "We all know how capable you are in a fight. You and I have kicked more ass than a lot of those blue bitches that are three times our age!"

"What my sister is so eloquently trying to say" Scott translated, "Is that you're already more than qualified whether they can see it or not. Just do what you do every day and I'm sure they'll discover what we already have. Cora Harper is one of the best biotics hands down."

"What they said" Harry agreed, pushing himself up to move across the aisle and take a seat next to the blonde woman. He threw an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a side hug. "Besides, so what if they don't appreciate you. There's about fifty thousand human colonists that are beyond thankful for what you sacrifice for them. And I'd rather you have my back than some asari huntress any day."

Cora could feel her eyes water up as she worked to hold back her tears, determined not to cry in front of her crewmates. She had always felt out of place around other humans as a biotic, her powers making her feel unnatural. The closest she had felt to belonging was when she had trained with the other huntresses, willing to look past the hazing and general xenophobia if it meant she was around others similar to her. Now though, she finally knew what it felt like to have a home. She was appreciated for who she was by everyone aboard the Tempest. Even if she had to be the responsible one on board what amounted to a spaceship frat house more often than not.

"Soooo…." Scott said, looking to change the subject, the atmosphere getting a little too thick for him. His eyes scanned the cargo bay before landing on the wizard across from him. "Who won the contest?"

"No one!" Harry replied quickly, sitting up straight and scanning around the cargo bay as if a certain turian was about to leap out at him. "We tied, and I'm pretty sure she cheated anyways. I never agreed to that deal anyways." No one noticed the two women in the shuttle share a look, an unspoken alliance forming between the two.

"She won" SAM supplied from the shuttle's speakers, ignoring Harry's shout of betrayal. "Ms Nix was able to score right at the end of the time limit."

"Did she tell you what she wants for her prize yet?" Scott asked. Harry just groaned, choosing to bang the back of his head against the bulkhead instead of answering.

XXXXXX

Drack hated waiting. He had learned to do many things over his millenium plus of living such as pirating, mercenary work, and even a spate as a private investigator in the terminus systems. One thing he had never learned to perfect though was patience. The krogan kept himself busy, pacing the cargo bay while polishing his favorite shotgun as he waited for Ryder's signal. He stopped as the door to the crew quarters opened, arching an eyebrow as he watched the resident turian lug another arm load of gear towards the runt's hiding space in the crates. "Ok" the space dinosaur rumbled as he crossed his arms in front of his chest, "I give. What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm just making sure that I get my prize" Vetra explained as she ducked behind the crates, appearing empty handed a moment later. "Don't worry big guy, my gear is set to go at a moment's notice. I won't keep you from any killing that needs to be done." She rubbed her hands together in glee as she practically skipped back towards her bunk again.

'At least she has her priorities straight' the krogan thought as he shook his head, deciding that it wasn't any of his business. He opened his omnitool, preparing it for a team communication. New guy, Blue runt, and Not-a-cop needed to get down here soon or they'd miss the party.

XXXXXX

"So when did you get those?" Sara asked as she pointed towards the gloves of Harry's hardsuit, a familiar purple gem imbedded in the palm of each hand. The wizard casually raised his hand, a beam of white light flying from his palm to a chunk of Ark Leusinia's hallway wall that was pockmarked from a firefight. The holes immediately began to close up, soon showing the only pristine portion of the bulkhead in dozens of feet in either direction.

"PeeBee helped me install them after we left Voeld" the wizard explained as he held up his hand. The residual magic making the gem almost glow for a moment before it faded to a dull purple again. "It takes my wand to cast the complicated stuff, but practicing a spell long enough let's me do it wandless. I imagine it's the same as how you shorten the time it takes for a certain biotic move if you practice it enough. I can't cast with my hands with out frying part of the hardsuit though, so this offers me a way around. Now I can cast in a vacuum without risking my wand."

They passed through the ship's atrium, almost identical to the Hyperion's if you didn't count the flickering lights, various battle damage, and a few pools of blue blood in random places. The team stepped into the hallway to the bridge, jumping in alarm as the doors slammed shut behind them and locked. The lights turned an angry red while an alarm began to blare from the speakers. "I'm venting the atmosphere now!" came an asari voice from the intercom by the door access. "Die you kett bastards!" she ordered.

"Wait! We're from the Hyperion!" Ryder cried out, waving his hands in front of the camera. "I'm the human Pathfinder!" 'SAM!' he thought as hard as he could, 'transmit the confirmation codes!' Within seconds, the lighting returned to normal as the sirens ceased.

The door to the bridge slid open revealing an asari matron standing rigidly at attention with her hands behind her back. Her Initiative uniform looked frayed, hanging loosely in some areas as if she had lost weight recently and not had the time to have it adjusted. The captain bars still were proudly displayed on her shoulders though, shined to a mirror finish and signaling who she was to everyone around her. She took in the appearance of the away team before her shoulders sank in relief. She gave a brief signal with her hand, two maidens breaking off from either side of the door as they stowed their weapons and returned to monitor their work stations. "Thank the goddess you finally showed up human" she said as she offered her hand to the leader of the group. "I'm Captain Atandra of the Ark Leusinia and as you can see we're having a few problems at the moment."

"Human Pathfinder Scott Ryder" Scott introduced himself as he shook her hand, following her towards the captain's station while the rest of his team fanned out to various parts of the bridge. He took the opportunity to remove his helmet, breathing in the ships air and noticing a faint smell of smoke that the scrubbers hadn't been able to remove yet. "The Nexus will be glad to see you. The Ark Hyperion was the only one to show up so far and people were beginning to lose hope. As you may have guessed, things haven't been going too well for the Initiative so far" the Pathfinder explained with a wry smile.

"You mean besides the dark matter phenomena that tore into our ship, the hostile aliens hunting us, or the fact that you aren't the human Pathfinder that left the Milky Way?" asked the captain with an a straight face. Noticing the human's cringe, she took sympathy on what must have been a touchy subject. "Do not worry Pathfinder, your SAM node has confirmed your identity and status past the point of suspicion. You are not the only one to experience loss on this journey. Our new Pathfinder Sarissa Theris is currently working to find us a new escape vector from the scourge using captured kett navigational data" she informed them while gesturing towards the final member of her bridge crew that had secluded herself in a corner of the room. The captain noticed one of the human's posture stiffen at the mention of Sarissa, but decided to put that on the back burner. There were higher priorities than potential drama to deal with, no matter how interesting it might be.

"Either way, we're here to help" Sara said as she stepped up next to her brother, the family resemblance obvious to all as they shared the same grim expression. "Just tell us what you need to have done so we can get under way."

Captain Atandra frowned as she pulled up a schematic of the Leusinia on the main view screen. More of the ship was highlighted in red than the last time she had looked, indicating fighting on board was causing further damage even now. "We're still under attack from kett boarders. They're confined to the cargo bay and the aft section exposed to space, but are continuing to push forward to key areas. To make matters worse, we can't initiate the drive core to get underway due to something actively draining our power. The remaining huntresses I have assigned to security are barely holding out and lack the power to push the kett off my ship."

"I doubt you'd even be able to get underway if the engine could start with all the damage already done" observed another human male, this one with dark black hair and tired eyes. He turned to his leader, a resigned look on his face. "Clean up duty?"

"Until further notice" the Pathfinder agreed with a nod of his head. "Cheer up Harry" he said as he patted the man on the shoulder. "You'll be working on the hull so at least the view will be spectacular."

"Not that I don't appreciate the assistance…" the asari captain inserted herself back into the conversation, "but what exactly can you possibly do to help fix the Leusinia in the short window that we have before the kett find us again?" Sara grinned before pulling out a strange looking gun, pointing it away from the agitated asari before they could take offense and towards a hole blasted in the wall. It shot out a white beam that was absorbed into the broken wall before the broken pieces on the floor flew up into the gap and fused back together. "What the hell was that?" cried Captain Atandra as she watched one of the maidens run her hand over the wall.

"Magic" Scott said with a grin. Seeing his joke wasn't going over too well, he elaborated while pointing at Harry. "One of our crew has a few unusual skills that allow for the creation of repair guns. We can give you two of them for the duration of the mission to help you get under way. Don't use them on any electronics that aren't shielded for EMP though, it'll scramble them."

"Amazing…" Pathfinder Theris observed as she joined the group, closing her omnitool as she did so. She turned towards the ship schematic while enlarging the aft half of it. "I have a few of my team heading to join me outside of engineering. We'll push out the kett in the area and fix what we can. Will you be able to do the same in the cargo bay Pathfinder Ryder?"

"We can" Scott assured her, a little put off by her formality. "Afterwards we'll head for the hull breach that the power drain is originating from. I'll head out to collect the rest of my team and we'll get underway." He pulled up his omnitool, it's orange glow illuminating his face in the dim lighting. "SAM, tell the other team to meet us at the airlock. Afterwards, coordinate with Harry on where to go for fixing the ship." The light winked out as he threw his helmet back on, waiting for the seal to complete. He left the room at a quick step, Sara and Cora falling in behind him before the door closed again.

"You aren't joining them?" Sarissa asked the remaining human. He looked at the schematic a final time before putting his helmet on as well.

"I have my own way" was the vague answer she received before he seemed to turn in place before disappearing with a small crack to hearld his departure.

"Where the hell did he go? Did he cloak?" the captain asked aloud as she looked around the bridge. One of the maidens gasped in surprise before quickly typing on her console. A picture of the outside of the Leusinia showed a small form making it's way across to the edge of a large gap that had been blasted into the ship on their first ambush with the kett. The figure raised its hands into the air, palms facing the damage before a huge beam of light shot out of each appendage and hit the hull. The damaged plates became whole again, unbending themselves and reconnecting together like tissue healing itself at an accelerated pace. A large red portion of the schematic disappeared, the section now showing green as it achieved positive pressure again. Nodding to itself, the figure turned and began walking down the hull towards the next damaged area.

"I… I should get going" the asari Pathfinder stuttered as she walked backwards, bumping into the side of the door before recorrecting her route. The captain nodded silently, her eyes not moving from the viewscreen.

XXXXXX

Harry whistled to himself as he strolled across the Leusinia, admiring the view as he proceeded towards the next area in need of some Wizardly TLC. He had left his radio on, allowing him to track the team as they made their way through the inside of the ship. As far as he could tell from the limited verbal commands, Drack and Cora led the charge with the twins following right behind them. The four others were on fix-it duty behind them with his repair guns, cleaning up the damage done by previous battles as well as anything new caused by their krogan wrecking ball and the human biotic squad. The battles were interspersed with Drack bragging about his kill count to any who would listen while Liam would crack jokes to try and lighten the mood. This fell flat as more and more of the evacuated sections of the Asari Ark were explored. The horrors that the colonists experienced in the battles with the kett revealing just how dire the situation was for the blue biotics from the Milky Way.

The worst to happen though was a set of recordings revealing the betrayal of the original Asari Pathfinder Matriarch Ishara by none other than Sarissa Theris herself! The matriarch had been abandoned by her second in command in a desperate battle with the kett after failed negotiations, Sarissa feeling that the kett navigational data she had recovered was more important to her people than any single individual. Cora had been a step away from marching off and confronting the Asari Pathfinder herself. It had taken the joint cajoling/pleading of Scott, Sara, Liam, and Harry to convince her to put it on hold until after the Ark was safe. The human huntress had eventually agreed, but had made it quite clear that she didn't consider the subject closed. She had been particularly brutal afterwards, prompting Drack to label her as his new second-most-favorite human in the galaxy.

Harry shook his head as he turned back to the hole he now stood in front of, seeing multiple decks of the Leusinia exposed to vacuum. The body of a kett, an anointed from the look of it's bulk, hung between the lower levels. A jagged crossbeam was stabbed directly through its chest making it easy to guess the cause of its demise. 'Must have been another entry point' the wizard noted to himself before forwarding the info on to SAM. The AI would work with it's counterpart to ensure the area was was swept for any enemy presence with the huntresses freed up by the Pathfinders' actions.

"A moment Mr Potter" the AI's voice filtered through his helmet, stopping him as he began to build up for a huge cast. "Records show that there used to be an antenna array here." Harry's HUD changed to show an orange outline of said array overlaid past the hole, at least three stories tall and half as wide.

"Damn, that's going to suck…" the wizard exhaled as he pulled the trunk from an outer pocket on his hardsuit and sticking it to the deck with a charm. He opened the lid before taking five large steps away from the container. Powering up the charm, he feel a dip in his reserves before he let it all loose at once through his palms, the remnant gems amplifying the magic as it passed through them. 'There's something to be said about overwhelming power when you can't get the finesse' the wizard thought to himself, reflecting on his outlook towards magic in general while growing up. Couldn't remember the exact wand movements or pronunciation of a spell? Extra power and a strong intent usually allowed his magic to make up for any deficiencies. It would drive Hermione and the other academics spare whenever he would try to explain it, the approach only ever working for him and his 'bullshit' brand of magic.

Harry flinched as the antenna array flew from the chest, the shrinking charm automatically dropping as it left the magical container. The large piece of the ship spiraled around as the repair charm took hold of it, almost clipping the wizard as it passed by. Sighing in relief, Harry sat down on the deck as he watched the spell complete its work. He doubted the electronics inside were functional, but it was still a step in the right direction as far as he was concerned. "That was the last repair needed besides the primary hull breach Mr Potter" SAM assured him. The AI had closely monitored the wizard's vitals during the repair work before forwarding them back to Dr T'Perro back on the Tempest. The asari doctor was determined to develop a baseline for the wizard in the hope of being able to treat him if there ever was an emergency he couldn't fix on his own. "Please proceed to the final location as soon as possible. The Pathfinders will be converging there shortly." The orange holographic arrow on Harry's omnitool pulsed brighter for a moment as it spun before orienting in the right direction.

Harry cursed slave driver AIs as he slowly pushed himself to his feet, his body heavily protesting to remind him of all that he had already done. The wizard ignored the complaints as he powerwalked the last few hundred feet, coming to a halt at the top of what remained of the ship. He whistled at the level of damage on display before him, bringing up his omnitool to take a quick vid before forwarding it onto the other groups inside the ship. "I think I found what is taking all the power from the drive…" he announced over the comm as he observed a giant mass effect forcefield cover all eight decks worth of exposed ship. "I'm not going to be able to fix that until the shield comes down. I'll be standing by." He conjured a pink lawn chair, charming it to be impervious before sticking it to the ship. He sighed in relief as he sat down, intent on taking what little rest he could as he observed his crewmates burst into the observation deck behind the forcefield and begin taking it to the kett guarding the area.

"Harry" the Pathfinder's voice called his attention to a small figure waving up to him from the group. "We think we found the device controlling the force field. An asari technician put it up to let the people trapped in the back of the ship pass through to the escape pods. They evacuated before we showed up so there shouldn't be any issues with dropping it. Sarissa's gearhead says she can get it down in about ten minutes…" Scott ducked behind the a pillar as he was fired on by another group of kett as they emerged from the other side of the bay. "We need to keep these bastards off her while she works!" he roared out the instructions to the rest of his assault team. "Harry, stand by. Start casting immediately when the field drops!"

The wizard sat on edge as he watched the battle continue, feeling impotent rage at not being able to help his friends. Any spell he threw at the kett was simply absorbed by the mass effect field. His guns were little better, the velocity of the bullets causing them to be automatically stopped as well. Most of the crew were holding up ok, but Liam had been trapped in no man's land in the center of the room when the kett had burst in. The man was pinned behind the remains of a staircase leading to the second level, holding his pistol as he frantically patted his pockets for a spare ammo clip. A loud thump was felt through his bones, causing him to turn in time to see a kett anointed land on the stairs' remains as it looked down upon him. The man threw his pistol a the alien's face while throwing himself backwards. The ex-cop grabbed the handle of the first weapon on his person he could reach, unable to keep in a laugh of desperation as he looked at the repair pistol in his hands. Shrugging as if to say 'what the hell', he fired the weapon at the kett, missing and hitting the stairs instead. The structure shuddered before pieces of it flew together building itself around the startled alien as it was pinned in place, it's head sticking out of the stairs as its arm wiggled helplessly from the wall. The firing from both sides fell to a stop as everyone in the room simply stared at the impossibility that they had just witnessed. Liam broke out of the stupor first, giving a quick rugby punt to the trapped kett's head before sprinting back towards his crewmates. He hurled himself behind a barrier as kett fire stitched the ground behind him. He looked up to see Drack staring at him with a look of wonder plastered on his reptilian face. "In all my centuries of living I've never seen anyone defeat an enemy by repairing something before…" the krogan said as he ignored the fire around him while taking out his omnitool to capture a quick shot of the helpless kett. "I don't think my clan will ever believe this even if I show them video proof."

Harry couldn't help but give a standing round of applause from his position, wondering why he had never thought of doing something like that before. It was always his greatest fear that he would begin to lose his common sense like so many of the pureblood wizards that he had known, thinking they already had discovered everything there was to learn about magic. His musings were cut short though as a massive kett ship dropped out of FTL off the Leusinia's port. Large guns fell into position, preparing for a broadside on the injured ship as it wallowed helplessly in space. A quick, explosive victory was not in the kett plans though as the wizard watched dozens of kett jump past a large mass effect field covering their open hangar and begin to jett across space towards where the fight still was ongoing on the Ark. A second wave began the traverse as the first landed, the fighting picking up again as the Leusinia huntresses began to arrive in groups to add to their side's defense. Harry watched the kett still in space, keenly aware that if they were to join the battle then there was a good chance his team would lose. "SAM!" his voice snapped as he raised his hands up in front of himself. "Give me targets just like when Vetra and I were competing on the Tempest!"

He ignored Scott's comment of "I knew it was a real competition!" as a whole field of orange crosshairs appeared on his HUD marking the kett. The wizard surged his magic beneath his skin before he fired a banisher at the lead kett. The spell hit the destined like a speeding train, all of the kinetic energy transferred to the alien and sending it spinning off towards the scourge field in the distance. Grunting at the success, Harry began to rapid fire banishers at each target. Pulses of light flew across the empty darkness of space before they found their targets, splashing across the kett as they tried to dodge the incoming fire.

The wizard sighed in relief as the last kett was impacted. The fight inside the Leusinia appearing to still be under control as the kett were driven into a corner, firing desperately as Scott and Sarissa began to close the noose around them. He watched a lone asari sprint across the open space, sliding on her knees against the force field controls as her fingers flew across the interface. The Initiative members all braced themselves as the forcefield flickered once before it disappeared. The decompression sending a few of the kett flying out of the observation deck, though the lion's share of them remained.

An alert from SAM drew Harry's attention to the kett ship. He watched in horror as the guns began to line up with the Leusinia, their barrels glowing as the shots charged. Planning went out the window as Harry deactivated his magnetic boots, hurling himself into space towards the kett ship as he cast an overpowered _aguamenti_ charm from his hands. The water flash froze as it left his suit, leaving a stream of ice particles behind him and marking his trail for all to see as he hurtled towards the enemy at breakneck speeds. He was too late though as a full battery of rockets fired from the kett ship, the munitions spiraling around each other as they flew towards the Leusinia. Harry's heart sank into his chest as he watched the attack only to gasp in surprise as two individuals strode to the front of the gap in the ship's hull. Each raised their arms upwards before throwing them out ahead, a biotic field forming around them before expanding outwards to envelope the entire Ark! The rockets impacted against the field, deflecting off it to fly off into the scourge. The explosions of the weapons backlighting the deadly hazard in all of its jagged glory. Harry breathed a sigh of relief before he was reminded of his own flight path about to come to an abrupt finish. He frantically maneuvered with his water jets towards the force field, barely skirting the edge of it as he shot into the large bay. His flight was stopped by the body of a kett anointed that was standing in the back of the bay shouting orders to the frantically moving chosen workers. The large kett's body provided the wizard with a cushion as they impacted the back wall of the bay before sliding down to the ground. Harry groaned as he rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself to his feet as fast as he could. The wizard took a quick look around the large bay, watching as the guns were quickly reloaded as a squad of kett made their way towards him. He threw the aliens the middle finger before turning in place and vanishing with a crack, reappearing in the corner of the bay behind a set of containers.

He took a quick look around the box, a grim smile on his face as the aliens gathered in the spot he had just vacated, arguing with and pushing each other in their frustration of losing him. The amusement was short lived though as he watched the missle ports get reloaded quickly by the well trained soldiers. There was no way the Ark would survive a second salvo, the wizard knowing full well how exhausting a last ditch maricle was like the one he had just witnessed. "Fuck my life" the wizard whispered to himself as he pressed a button on his wrist, watching as a panel slid back, exposing his skin to the cold air of the bay. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

During the months that he had spent on the run with Hermione while horcrux hunting, the teens had reached a level of depression that had them turning to 'alternative' sources to end the dark wizard. Ron had abandoned them and there wasn't any hope of achieving their goal leaving them desperate for answers. It was Hermione who turned towards the Black family library that they had gotten from Kreature. The mad house elf refused to allow Molly Weasley to destroy his family's priceless treasures, hoarding them in the nooks and crannies of the house known only to the elves. The young witch had delved into some of the darkest spells recorded, looking for anything capable of destroying Voldemort's soul anchors. The two spells that they had found capable of such a feat were both fire based, though that was where the similarities ended. _Fiendfyre_ took only a small burst of magic to ignite, but required colossal amounts of magic to keep the construct under control and stop it from attacking the caster. Stopping it took even more effort and many wizards lost their lives to the flames after summoning them. It would burn until it ran out of magic to consume.

 _Hellfyre_ though, had no such rules attached. Once summoned, it would burn until no more fuel was available. Fuel being anything it could touch. There was no stopping it once initiated, distance being the only thing possible to prolong your life. Barely any magic was required to start it, something much more important had to be freely given in exchange.

'I never could make that spell work right' Harry mused to himself as he cut his wrist. He smeared the lifeblood in a crude circle on the deck before drawing a pentagram across it, the ends of the design breaking past the circle by an inch in each direction. He cast a quick healing charm on his wrist, before using the remaining blood to write three special runes in a triangle outside the circle. _Life, Sacrifice,_ and finally _Infernal_ were written in blood, each of the symbols glowing in a satanic way. Taking a deep breath and clenching his teeth, Harry slammed his palm down into the center of the pentagram and began to channel his magic. Searing pain enveloped every cell as his magic was forcibly pulled from his body and into the drawing. What felt like eternity was actually over in seconds as the wizard fell onto his ass as his hand was released from it's imprisonment. The pentagram flashed an angry red, prompting the wizard to lurch to his feet dizzily. He shuffled across the deck, barely able to propel his body forwards toward the forcefield as the pentagram began to flash faster and faster. A dull roar began to echo across the hanger as the lights took a red tint. The kett ceased their actions, looking around in alarm as they instinctively turned and fled from the direction that their senses told them danger was coming from. Harry ignored this as he flung himself into space, activating his boosters on the bottom of his feet to vector him towards the Leusinia.

The wizard barely retained consciousness as he flew through the void. He wanted nothing more than to sleep until the end of days but was unable to take his sight away from the kett ship. Demonic red light flashed from the alien vessel as blood red flames began to shoot out of any open surface as they vented into space. The wizard barely noticed as he arrived at the Ark, a mass effect field forming around him before dragging him down to the waiting arms of Scott and Sara as they stood with the rest of the crowd watching in horror as the kett burned. "What did you do Harry" the Pathfinder asked in a hushed voice, unable to take his eyes away from the horror that had befallen the other ship.

"Magic…" the wizard mumbled from his spot propped up on their shoulders, unable to even lift his head as his eyes slowly began to close. "It can be a wonderful thing full of rainbows and sunshine if the wizard wants it to be. But it's also capable of unleashing death and destruction if the wizard has the intent." His head lolled to the side, resting on Sara's shoulder. "I always had trouble finding the anger needed for the truly destructive spells, it just wasn't in me. But I watched as they tried to obliterate the Ark and all of you with it and found the motivation to unleash what you're seeing now."

Harry began to snore as his body finally gave up the good fight and left him at the mercy of his crewmates. They watched as sections of the kett ship began to glow red as hull was superheated enough to succumb to the flames. Scott slowly laid the wizard down on the ground, propping him into a sitting position against a wall as he turned back towards the flames. "The kett finally reaped what they sewed today" he said he watched the enemy ship disappear into the red inferno. "They picked a fight with the wrong earthling."

Sara shivered as she watched the destruction, thankful for the distance between the ships. "And hell followed with him."

 **A/N: Happy Holidays. The Tempest crew has seen the best of Harry before now, but the dark side of magic is finally starting to be revealed as well. Will they still stick with the wizard knowing what he is capable of? If you're looking for a good example of the last thing the kett saw, think Doom 3 when hell is unleashed on Mars City.**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

Harry Potter had didn't like crowds. It never affected him enough to be considered a full blown case of agoraphobia, but one doesn't spend their formative childhood years locked in a cupboard without some side effects. Staying behind the scenes instead of being in the spotlight was definitely the wizard's prefered comfort zone. These thoughts continuously repeated themselves in the boy-who-lived's head as he stood in the broken observation deck of the Ark Leusinia, distinctly aware of the numerous pairs of blue eyes all locked on him.

It had been three hours since the end of the battle for the asari ark. Not even ashes remained where the mighty kett warship once sailed, it's position now being occupied by the Tempest as the Pathfinder's vessel kept position next to the larger ship as it prepared to get underway and leave the scourge field. The battle had gone better than any could have hoped for, yet still cost more than anyone wanted to give up. Three more veteran huntresses had given their lives in the clearing of the ship and final battle, leaving a lack of experienced combat personnel that would affect the biotic species for decades to come as they tried to regain their military edge.

Harry had used the time to recover from a nearly fatal case of magic exhaustion, his body recovering at a rapid rate after getting a small recharge from Jaal in a side room containing atmosphere. The experience had been awkward for both parties involved, a mutual agreement being reached that the event would be forgotten about and not brought up under anything but the most dire of circumstances. The wizard had chosen to put his helmet back on and simply sit on one of the remaining benches in the demolished room. The stars here were particularly beautiful in his opinion with the scourge's refracting of their light adding to the effect. He did his best to try to ignore the hustle and bustle around him as the other members of the Initiative worked overtime to try and finish making safe the ship and dealing with the remaining pockets of resistance.

Alas, Harry's quiet time came to an abrupt end as he registered multiple doors open to the ruined section of the ship as more and more asari began to arrive on the deck. The blue women stared in shock and awe at the damage that had been done to their home, quickly talking amongst themselves as they began to explore. "It happened during the final battle" the wizard jumped at the sudden voice, whirling around to see Cora standing against the wall behind him as she watched to growing crowd. She smirked at his expression, laying a hand on his shoulder to steady him as she gently pulled him to a spot next to her. "I decided to watch over you while you had your moment while the wonder twins stepped up to help coordinate everything" she nodded with her head off to the side where the two Ryders could be seen with the asari Pathfinder and the Leusinia's captain as they assigned work to the different crew. "Something was damaged during the final battle that we couldn't fix with your repair guns. The asari SAM recommended, with the captain's approval, that the first wave of asari be awakened ahead of schedule to help with the repairs. Everything that can be fixed has been except for that" she waved at the missing side of the ship. "They'll probably ask you to get it soon so they can make their way to the Nexus." Harry nodded absentmindedly, listening to the information but not caring all that much one way or the other. "Hey!" he was jolted to the side as the blonde woman shoved him. "What the hell is wrong with you? You've been dark and mopey since the battle ended."

"Nothing you'd understand" he said as he regained his balance, taking a position a little further down the wall just out of her reach. "And I'm not mopey!" he said with a little more heat as he slid to a sitting position. If there was one thing Harry Potter wasn't, it was over emotional dammit!

The human huntress giggled as she crossed her arms and tilted her head while she studied him. Finally, there was a spark of the Harry she had known before. "Try me" she responded, eager to find out what had been eating at him.

"Fine" the wizard said with a sigh, his head leaning back until it tapped against the bulkhead. "It's not like I'll be seeing that much of you guys after this is over anyways. I saw your expressions after I made it back from the kett ship." He raised his hand up, cutting her off before she could speak. "It's ok. I promise. I performed some pretty dark stuff back there and I get that it scares people. I wouldn't want to have something that dangerous around me either if given the choice. When we get back to the Nexus I'll help Kesh fix the station up, then go find some quiet place to start over. That's fair right?" he asked with hope in his voice, feeling that he had at least earned enough to not be locked up as a threat.

"I swear you are one of the dumbest smart people I know Harry" the blonde woman rolled her eyes in exasperation as she slid to the ground next to him. He put his arm behind her waist as she leaned into him, rewarding her with the closest thing she had gotten to a snuggle since this hellish trip had begun. "I don't think I can even imagine what the magical world could have been like to get you to immediately come to a conclusion like that but there is something you have to realize." She sat up, gaining enough room to turn her head so they could see eye to eye through their helmets. "What you did just now is so small on the scale of destruction that most people won't even care, let alone be frightened." She hid her amusement at his confused look, knowing that the moment wasn't right for joking. "The krogan threw asteroids at planets during their rebellion. The salarians responded with the genophage. The quarians created the geth, then tried to kill them when they became self aware only to have ninety plus percent of their population killed off instead. The turians tried to subjugate our species after first contact and the batarians still try to enslave anyone they can get their hands on. You really think anyone gives a shit that you burned down a kett ship?"

"It seemed like a big deal at the time" the wizard mumbled, finding the ground a lot more interesting all of a sudden as he tried to contain his embarrassment. "People were shunned for far less back on Earth." He shifted his head up to watch the controlled chaos going around them, the spot where his chin had been quickly becoming occupied by Cora as she took the opportunity to lean into his chest.

She cursed the need for hardsuits but made the most of her situation as she circled her arms around his torso and pulled him into a hug. She held her breath as he stiffened up, before exhaling in relief as she felt him return the gesture as she was pulled closer to his chest. The moment was ruined as she watched Scott turn towards them, waving an arm in a 'come here' gesture before returning to the meeting. 'Looks like break time is over' she thought bitterly, before putting on her game face and pushing herself to her feet. She couldn't say she wasn't resentful about being passed up for the Pathfinder position for the obvious nepotism displayed by the Ryders, but her duty was to humanity. And if that meant sucking it up and supporting Scott than that was what she was going to do. 'The perks aren't all that bad anyways' she reflected with a fond smile as she reached down for Harry's hand. Pulling the wizard to his feet, she motioned for him to follow as they made their way back to the command group.

"You better now?" Scott asked his magical friend as he held out his fist. He'd be lying if he wasn't concerned for his friend. Something had been wrong with Harry since the end of the battle, but he had not been given the time to follow up on it yet. The fist bump he received relieved him, but the familiar fire in the wizard's eyes that had been lacking before assured him that everything was all right. "Everyone else is already back on the Tempest" he informed his remaining crew members. "We just need to finish up here and we can be underway. Harry, can you do the honors?"

The wizard strode to the edge of the deck as he pulled the shrunken chest from his pocket. He emptied it out into space, watching as the debris expanded to a large cloud of broken metal parts as they slowly spiraled out into the blackness. "Are we just on the team line right now?" he asked as he walked a few steps backwards.

"We are now" Scott assured him. "Well… us, Captain Atandra and Pathfinder Sarissa. What's wrong?" The others turned to watch the wizard as well, curiosity overriding their other concerns.

The wizard tried to choose his words carefully, not wanting to offend anyone. "Is there a reason that all of these people need to watch me fix the ship? I thought they were revived to get emergency work done, not watch a magic show."

Sarissa snorted, sauntering up next to him to look out at the Tempest as well. "They all watched the last battle from our SAM's recordings as they were woken up." she explained, turning her head to take in all the pairs of eyes on the them. "You're a celebrity now Magic Man. You helped save all of us and you know we can be very thankful…" She tilted her head enough to allow him to see her through her helmet's tint before licking her lips and winking at him. "Get ready, this is about to become a party line" she warned as she turned around to the crew watching the event, taking the opportunity to brush her hip against his. She grinned in triumph as he subtly adjusted himself as she raised her hands into the air. "SAM, connect me to everyone."

"Crew of the Leusinia!" she shouted, bringing everyone's attention to herself. "We've experienced hell since arriving in this galaxy. Most would have laid down and given up in the face of such adversity but not us! Not the Asari!" She paused as a cheer was broadcast from every set of lungs on the ship, the halls ringing with the sounds. "Your sisters have fought to the point of exhaustion to keep us safe from this new group of aliens called the kett. Some even sacrificed their lives so that the rest of us could live on. This gave us the chance we needed to survive until we were found by our friends here" she gestured to Scott, Sara, Cora and Harry, "the Human Pathfinder and his crew." Said humans waved to the cheering asari, unsure of what to do in the situation. "You all know the rest from the recordings taken earlier during the battle. Captain Atandra had assured me that we will be underway once this final area of the ship is fixed and the structural integrity has been verified. So without further ado, the floor is yours Harry!" she waved to the wizard, before taking a step away to give him plenty of room. Switching her comm back to a private one between the two of them she blew out a sigh of relief. "God I hate public speaking. It's all yours Magic Man. Don't embarrass me now."

"Gee, Thanks so much for the vote of confidence" the magical human snarked as he turned to the hole again. "No pressure right?" he said to no one in particular as he raised his hands into the air, a moment passing as he felt his magic literally roll underneath his skin before a blast of white energy burst from his palms towards the edges of the wall. The beam was absorbed into the bulkhead, time almost seeming to reverse for a second as the rotating space debris slowed to a stop before slowly flying back towards the Leusinia. The broken metal fit itself back together like a jigsaw puzzle, each piece finding its slot perfectly as the hole was filled in. Harry ignored the excitement around him, frowning as he felt the spell running out before the work was completed. He grabbed hold of his magic, pushing everything he could into his palms as he recast the spell again. An even brighter beam of light hitting the wall this time before it rippled along the surface over the entire length of the room. The wall instantly knit itself back together, looking as if it had just left dry dock for the maiden voyage. The spell didn't end there though, every piece of furniture, railing, and walkway all came back together in front of the speechless audience

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" the asari Pathfinder cooed as she slid to the sagging magic user, throwing her arm around his waist to steady him as he recovered. "Just so you know, I give great back rubs if you need to relieve some of that stress later."

"That won't be necessary" Sara cut in, pulling Harry over to her before the asari could get any more comfortable with him. "Cora and I already are there for helping him with that. Thank you for the offer though. I'm sure Scott could use a hand if you're interested in being helpful though."

Scott stood up a little taller as the asari's gaze swept over him, keenly aware of what he was getting volunteered for and having no problem with it. "Hmmm…" Sarissa said, removing her helmet now that the room had air again and rubbing her chin in thought. "That's a nice offer but I think I'll stick with my original goal." the human Pathfinder hung his head in shame, a night of azure passion going up in smoke before it could even begin. Turning back to the crew, she raised her voice for a final time. "Sisters! We're finally under way! Next stop, Nexus!"

Cora had already left with Sara waiting by the door of the chamber, choosing to forgo staying on the ship any longer than need be. Harry and Scott had taken the opportunity to remove their helmets, their hair slicked back with sweat that made their skin practically glisten in the artificial lighting. Both men froze, keenly aware of the silence as they were watched by over a hundred asari like hawks staring down at a lone rabbit. "Thank you again Harry! None of this would have been possible without your gifts!" Ryder shouted, patting his shoulder in an exaggerated manner as he subtly slipped behind the wizard. Sexy time with asari was all well and good, but he could tell this was a little too close to a feeding frenzy to end well for anyone.

"Oh fuck you Scott" the wizard murmured angrily before casting a _sonorous_ charm on his throat with the last dregs of his magic. "No Pathfinder Ryder, thank you! Without your leadership and planning, we never would have stood a chance of making this work. We owe you everything!" He pulled Scott into a quick bro hug as he cancelled the spell. "Payback is a bitch" he said quietly before giving his commander a shove forwards. "First one to get him gets to keep him ladies!"

A sea of blue flowed as one down the stairs as both men turned, running for their lives. The door at the end of the bay that lead to the docks seeming to get farther away by the second. They had made it half the distance when a purple biotic field wrapped around their ankles, spilling both men to the floor. Sarissa chuckled to herself from her spot on a bench as her biotics died back down, looking forward to the spectacle. It had been too long since she had seen a maiden mating mob and it always was good for a laugh.

Not everyone watched the unfolding situation with amusement though. Sara looked on with horror as both of the most important men in her life sprawled on the floor with the blue mob moments from reaching them. The men looked at each other in despair before they both reached towards her as one. It broke her heart knowing that she only had the time to help one of them, the other would be left to his fate. She could either choose her twin brother, the one who she was closest to since birth and had shared almost all of her experiences with or her not so secret crush. She closed her eyes in pain before opening them and surging forwards.

She had made her choice!

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The cold metal floor looked so comfy. He wanted nothing more than to simply lay his head down on the ground and sleep for the next twelve hours, his sense of duty being the only thing to stop it from happening. 'The leader doesn't look weak in front of his team, no matter what.' His father's words echoed in his head as he finally cleared the loading ramp, feeling the ship take off underneath him before the inertia dampeners began to compensate. He forgoed crossing the cargo deck to the crew quarters and his cabin beyond, instead taking a left towards a stack of crates. Squeezing through the small opening, he pushed past the flaps of the small tent and stumbled into large room beyond. Continuing through the living room, he made for the door at the end of the hallway, pushing it open to find his sister sitting on the edge of a king size bed in a tank top and a pair of short shorts. A fuzzy orange kitten lay in her lap purring hard enough to physically vibrate. None of this mattered though, his eyes falling on the great betrayer as he knelt behind Sara, giving her a neck and shoulder rub that had her in a state of complete bliss. "Why?" He croaked, barely correcting his balance before he fell on his face. "Why did you choose him over your own flesh and blood!?"

Sara regarded at her brother with pity, the man looked like he had been jumped at the corner of sexy and painful before being left for dead. "It wasn't an easy choice!" she tried to defend herself, before her eyes closed in pain as Harry worked out a particular kink in her shoulder. "I love you Scott, but you don't have kittens. Besides, he's my bitch now" she gestured towards the frowning wizard who had pulled back. "Did I tell you to stop?" Her voice made him jump, immediately going back to her massage. He knew full well what kind of bullet he had dodged back on the Leusinia. She relaxed into the magical hands before frowning as she noticed something that she had previously overlooked. "Why the hell are your pants on backwards?"

"Didn't have time to fix them" the Pathfinder slurred, his eyes finally losing the battle to remain open. He took the last few steps needed before falling face first on Harry's bed next next to his sister, startling the kitten and causing it to run out of the room. "Still don't know who took my boxers…" he mumbled before a light snore was all that could be heard.

"Fuck" Sara cursed, pushing off of the bed as she pulled her shirt straps back up to her shoulders. "That dick just had to ruin the mood." She looked back at the relieved wizard and frowned, "This isn't over. We'll pick back up later." The wizard was too tired to give zero fucks at that point, pushing past her with a pillow under his arm to fall asleep in the guestroom across the hall. Giving it up as a lost cause and knowing Cora was just as exhausted, Sara decided to take a crack at command. "Kalo" she said into her omnitool as she stepped outside of the room, "What's our ETA to the Nexus?"

"Twelve hours" came the reply, the salarian on top of his game as usual. "The Leusinia will be another day or so behind us. They're stopping to pick up the colonists that they had evacuated earlier."

"Thank you. If anything happens in the next twenty four hours, come to me first. Scott and Cora need to rest." Sara knew that she wasn't officially in the chain of command, but her position had all but been secured over the last few weeks. Even Drack accepted her authority after proving her ability to take him down if needed. She heard a clunk from one of the rooms further down, prompting her to approach in curiosity. Peeking around the door frame, she found Vetra bent over a desk in her casual clothes. The black marketeer had a shotgun half taken apart on the desk, modifying it to her heart's content with gear she had picked up from the Resistance HQ on Aya. It was clear that the room had been completely taken over by the turian, pictures of palaven hung on the walls and clothes and gear laid in piles haphazardly all over the dwelling.

Sara was tempted to storm into the room and confront the trespasser, intent on finding out how she won the right to 'move in' with the wizard before anyone else. Common sense chose that moment to come to the rescue, reminding her of the opportunity down the hallway that she almost missed out on in her fit of jealousy. Silently backing away from Ventra's room, Sara quickly snuck back down the hall to the guest room occupied by the sleeping wizard who was sprawled out on his back across the bed. The woman stealthily climbed up on the bed, laying her head on the crook of his shoulder and throwing her arm and thigh across his torso. She inhaled deeply, loving the way he smelled. Sara closed her eyes as she felt his arm curl around her waist. Everything was right in the world.

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"Here you are ma'am. Two asari 'Nectar of the Gods.'" The drinks were pushed across the counter by the bartender, a permanent smile etched on the asari's face to make up for her surly coworker.

Darra gathered up both cups before working her way back to the end of dark room to where the Moshae sat with two of the Initiative's leaders, Jien Garson and Foster Addison. The flashing lights and loud beat of the music were less than enjoyable in her opinion, coming far too close to reminding her of her time in combat. How this was supposed to come anywhere close to relaxing was lost on her. "Moshae" she said in respect as she handed the elderly woman her drink before sitting and taking a sip of her own. Her people's taste buds were set for different chemical compounds than the people of the Milky Way. This made most of the food available taste quite bitter to the angara brave enough to try it. The asari fruit drinks ended up being surprisingly tasty though, a novel experience for a people struggling to simply survive day to day.

"Thank you my child" the elder angara replied with a soft smile before turning back to the patient women across from her. "I admit, I did not expect diplomatic talks to be done in such a chaotic environment. Is this a human custom that I hadn't been informed of yet?"

"Not at all!" Jien chirped with a huge grin which contrasted well with Foster slapping her face in frustration with her leader's antics. "The whole purpose of this meeting is to simply get to know each other in a more relaxing environment. We just received word that another ship of our people was rescued from the kett by the Pathfinder. Our best ambassadors are among them so we'll leave the legal stuff for when they can take part in the talks."

Addison took a long pull of her drink, grimacing as the alcohol burned down her throat. "The problem is that those talks take for ever before anything actually gets accomplished. The Initiative needs to keep moving or there won't be any time for talks later. I imagine you are in a similar situation with an active war hanging over your people. So we want to know, what do the angara need from us right now. Not down the road but in the next few days to weeks. We need to concentrate on the short term for now."

The Moshae paused, not expecting for such a candid conversation. "We need you to keep doing what you already are. Your Pathfinder has already affected two of our planets for the better and we would support him wholeheartedly if that can continue. There are a few things that I would consider mutually beneficial to both of our peoples though." Jien motioned for her to continue, causing her to bring out a datapad that she was planning on showing at a later date. No time like the present though if they wanted to hear it. "We need Harry's assistance on Voeld. An architect has been spotted and needs to be brought under control before it begins to attack the settlements." Foster noted the request, marking it as a priority. The elderly angara waited for her to finish before continuing on. "The other situation is a little more delicate.." she trailed off, discreetly glancing around the room before leaning across the table. "Something needs to be done with your Outcasts on Kadara. They're poisoning my people to you faster than the Pathfinder can win them over. Evfra will be cross with me telling you this but he is still my student no matter how old he gets. There is a growing faction that has broken away from the resistance with the purpose of removing all alien presence from the Helius cluster, the Initiative included. They could easily become a danger for you if the situation continues to escalate."

Jien and Foster shared a look before turning back to their guests. The Initiative director sent a discrete meeting request for Tiran Kandros to join them, security for the Nexus being his primary responsibility. "We're already in contact with the leader of the outcasts to try to bring them back into the fold. There's alot of bad blood with all that happened over the last year though, so it won't be a quick process. The hope is that Scott and his team might be able to start the healing process since they came in on the scene after the conflict had already happened." She shifted closer to Addison, leaving room on the bench for their just arrived turian colleague to squeeze in as well. "Now" she said while leaning forwards, her hands interlocking together in front of her face, "please tell us what you can of this rebel group."

The Moshae sighed to herself, preparing to give away sensitive information on her people. This was something they deserved to know about, consequences to herself be damned. The relationship between her people and the Initiative was too important to risk losing over the misguided efforts of one of her favorite students.

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It wasn't fair. Harry had woken up feeling safe and warm, keenly aware that he had something very soft and very feminine cuddling into him for the first time since Hermione had died. Any other time, Harry would have enjoyed the moment for all that he was worth. But his body had just informed him that he had to pee. **BAD**. He breathed in deeply before trying to pull himself from Sara's grip, only for her to frown in her sleep before grunting in irritation and pulling him closer while digging her knee into his bladder. Desperation was beginning to take over as the wizard raised his head up as far as it would go to scan the room for an escape opportunity. Coat… No. Chair… No. Scott… No. Sofa… WAIT! Harry peered across the hallway to where the Pathfinder was sprawled out on the wizard's bed, sleeping so hard that a trail of drool leaked from the corner of his mouth to soak into the mattress beneath him. Harry cast a silent switching spell, replacing himself with Scott. The wizard quickly sat up, thanking merlin that his prayers were answered and neither of the twins had woken up. Scott now lay on his back on the guest bed, one arm thrown out to the side while the other served as Sara's cushion. His sister had not registered the fact that she was now snuggling up to someone different, choosing to pull the warm body even closer as she enjoyed the heat it put off.

Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor in this case, Harry quickly snapped a picture with his omnitool before padding down the hall away from the scene of the crime. He stopped dead as he noticed the first bedroom was now occupied, the room packed full of all kinds of odds and ends. Vetra was passed out over the workbench, her head cradled in her arms. Making note to discover just why she had set up shop in his home later on, Harry cast a quickly feather wight charm on the turian before picking her up in a princess carry and depositing her on the bed. The wizard quickly pulled the covers up to her chin before giving the woman a quick kiss on the head plates and leaving the room. He never noticed the eye that slid open below said head plate, watching the wizard leave the room. Vetra snuggled into the bed for a well deserved rest, a huge smile stretching across her face. It was the little things that helped make a great day afterall.

Suvi looked up from her station as she heard the doors to the bridge hiss open, her ears following the footsteps to a chair behind her. She already knew who was there as she turned around to greet her fellow science lover, the wizard's habits well known to her by now. The words died in her throat though as her mind worked in overdrive to read the plethora of emotions that seemed to fight for dominance on Harry's face. Confusion, melancholy, and anger all seemed to be competing at the moment, none of which she ever wanted to see on a friend if she could help it. "Do you want to talk about it?" she blurted out, internally cringing at the lack of tact. Isolation on the bridge with minimal company didn't really help with social skills development. The noise from Kallo's work station seemed to slow for a moment before a specific series of taps came that she recognized as morse code. _Stay calm. Just listen. Advise if assistance needed in talk._ She tapped back a quick confirmation on the side of her keyboard, touched at his concern. You couldn't work with someone as long as they had together without getting protective sooner or later.

Harry slumped in his chair, crossing his arms over his book on planet readings that sat in his lap. "I just have been having dreams again about my time back in the wizarding world before I left for space. Recalling all the bad sides of wizardry like blood purists and muggle baiting help me remember that there was plenty of bad things about magic along with the good. The last thing anyone should do is look at history with rose tinted glasses, only remembering the good in things lest their memories grow skewed. The problem is that I seriously question if I should try restarting magical society again. My people weren't the most progressive thinkers unless someone drug them kicking and screaming into it, and that usually resulted in violence before anything was accomplished."

'Oh,' the scientist reflected to herself, 'this is going to be one of 'those' conversations.' She locked her station before turning around fully to the wizard and crossing her legs. "Only you can make that decision Harry, but you shouldn't just use your experiences to decide whether your civilization should live on or not." He frowned in confusion, obviously not understanding her point. "What I mean is that your experiences obviously slanted towards the bad with the dark wizard and corrupt government that you told me about. But you've mentioned just a fraction of some of the wonderous things magic can do, all of which could benefit our people for millennia to come. You also will be the one shaping how the magical community would form, since you'll be the founder of it. Considering how well technology has advanced, you'll be around for another century at least to watch it grow."

'If only you knew' Harry thought to himself, unwilling to share about being the Master of Death yet with anyone. He had been unable to part with the deathly hallows, no matter how many times he had tried to abandon the elder wand or resurrection ring. They always seemed to magically appear back at his side after a short time. It hadn't taken him long to realize that his ageing had slowed to a complete stop while everyone he knew continued to grow older without him. Building a magical community was beginning to look better and better as he thought about his prospects for the future. He was going to need something to do lest he slowly begin to go insane out of boredom.

A beeping tone pulled them out of their conversation, watching as the salarian made note of it before turning it off. "Twenty minutes from Nexus" he explained before tapping another key. "Notifying Ryder now."

"Where did the Pathfinder go anyways?" Suvi asked as she unlocked her console. A gasp from Harry drew both of the bridge crew's attention again. They watched curiously as he endured a giggle fit while bringing up a picture on his omnitool. The woman and salarian shared a look before leaping from their chairs to see what the wizard had on display. Kallo stared in confusion before returning to his post. Humans were so strange sometimes. Suvi gasped as she recognized the individuals in the photo, wondering just how they had gotten in such a compromising position.

XXXXXX

His omnitool incessantly beeped again, forcing Scott to return from the dream world and face reality again. There was no way that he was opening his eyes before he had to though when there was a perfectly good snooze alarm to abuse. He tried to pull his arm up to reach his omnitool, only to realize that his arm was trapped under something soft and heavy. A female grown answered his movement, a shift in weight making him realize the placement of an arm and leg over certain parts of his torso. Grinning softly, the Pathfinder rolled towards his companion as he reached his free arm behind her to hit his alarm. The fact that she was now squished against him was not lost on the man, using his arms to pull her into a tight hug as he pushed his face into the top of her head and smelled her hair. To his delight, she responded with feather light kisses all over his chest as one of her hands ran down his back to squeeze an his ass cheek.

Scott couldn't help but feel thrilled at her escalating the snuggle, reciprocating in kind and getting a husky female moan for his efforts. His mind was finally starting to fire on all cylinders though, causing him to question why exactly Suvi or Cora would want to choose this moment to finally express their feelings for him. Resolving that he had better open his eyes and find out who he was with before he called her the wrong name, Scott blearly opened a single eye. Brown hair… who the hell was on his crew with brown hair? He froze.

'What the fuck?' Sara thought to herself. Harry had finally woken her up the exact way she had dreamed about since she had met him. The snuggle had finally started to work its way into some heavy petting with the perfect opportunity to completely skip first base for second when the wizard abruptly stopped moving. She groaned in frustration, her eyes opening up in preparation to question what was wrong when she found herself staring at a tattoo on the chest in front of her. A familiar tattoo of an eagle. Her hand slowly slid away from its previous purchase on his ass, landing on his chest and forcefully pushing him away enough for brother and sister to stare face to face at each other.

XXXXXX

Liam sat in the middle of the cargo bay over a fold out table. Jaal sat across from him, the angarra watching in wonder as the ex-cop balanced a set of playing cards on top of each other to form a castle. Drack slept lazily in his favorite hammock in the corner of the bay, his snores mixing perfectly with the thrum of the drive core. The silence was shattered as two screams tore through the ship, the horror and shame in them enough to shake even the strongest beings to their cores. Drack fell out of his hammock to the deck, scuttling on all fours towards the weapons station in an attempt to arm himself. Liam let a single tear slide down his cheek as his castle collapsed, the last four hours wasted with nothing to show but a crushed dream and an amused angaran.

Harry simply stood on the upper level of the cargo bay, staring down at his tent and wondering if it was safe yet to go in and get ready for docking. 'Worst twins ever' he thought to himself.

 **A/N: Humor and plot progression for this chapter. Nexus, Havarl, and crew changes happen next. And for the 'Guest' who threatens me when the chapters take too long to come out, this one was written for me, not you. We don't give in to terrorists. Beautiful women yes… but not terrorists.**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Karma Always Balances

A dozen beings sat in a conference room deep in the Nexus, the eclectic group representing all the races allied together in Andromeda. Voices blended together in a low rumble as multiple conversations took place at the same time between the occupants seated at a horseshoe shaped table. The lights dimmed, bathing everyone in darkness as a single light shown over a lectern at the front of the room. Jien Garson, leader of the Initiative entered the room from a side door. She strode to the front of the room, taking her place at the lectern and centering her thoughts with a deep breath. "Thank you all for coming here today. I know we only had an hour of warning, but it was imperative that we have representatives from the Pathfinders' teams as well as soon as they docked." She indicated to Lexi, Suvi, and Harry where they sat at the right side of the table. "Key members of the Nexus leadership were also invited" she informed the room, pointing to Kesh, Kandros, and Addison at the head of the table. "We also required that our science team leads attend." A human, turian, salarian, and asari sat together in a group on the left of the table. Their lab coats and general presence screaming academic to the rest of the room's occupants. "Please take notes and disseminate them to the rest of your team at your discretion afterwards. Finally, we also have the Moshae and Darra of the angara attending at my invitation. They were asked to attend in the spirit of openness and honesty we are fostering with our new allies, as well as the fact that this information will affect their people as well. Representatives from the Leusinia will be joining after docking protocols are taken care of."

Jien left the podium, more comfortable pacing the inside length of the table. "We are gathered here today to review some disturbing findings that have come to light recently involving members of the Initiative." She was interrupted as the asari Pathfinder Sarissa Theris with two Leusinia crewmates slunk into the room. The asari quickly took empty seats, the pathfinder nodding an apology to her leader for interrupting. "Right" the Initiative leader said, called the attention back to her. "A little history lesson for those who are new to Andromeda. The Nexus arrived here about a year earlier than the Arks. We experienced heavy losses in leadership as well as near catastrophic damage in a collision with the scourge. I was put into a medical coma in a crypod until a few weeks ago, leaving Tann in charge. The poor decisions in leadership as well as the general hopelessness facing the unthawed personnel resulted in a near insurrection, leading to over twenty thousand of our people being banished from the Nexus and costing us the entire krogan population. I have been endeavouring to fix this colossal fuckup ever since I was brought back to the land of the living and am finally showing progress. Neither group is willing to rejoin the Initiative yet due to the distrust that was rightfully earned, but we are negotiating towards active communication again in the hope of moving on from the past. This is important because it also reflects on how our neighbors perceive us" she gestured towards the angara women.

A large screen came to life behind her, fading to black before it was populated with stars representing the known systems in the Heleus cluster of Andromeda. "The history of the Initiative was effectively on hold for a year in the Nexus here" a small Nexus icon lit up on the map near the south, "before the human Pathfinder Scott Ryder arrived to kickstart it up again. With his help we successfully started a colony on Eos" a planet in the southwest was shown highlighted. "He then made contact with the angara on Aya, introducing them to the Initiative and laying the first steps towards an alliance against the kett." She paused as Aya was highlighted on the cluster map before a second planet was highlighted on the north east of the cluster, far from anything Initiative. "You'll notice I didn't say 'first contact' with the angara. That is because the people who left the station earlier in the year took over this planet, Kadara" she said pointing at the map. "The outcasts, led by my old chief of security Sloane Kelly, slaughtered the kett on the planet before taking over the administration of it from the angara who are now heavily taxed and effectively becoming second class citizens. This was our 'great' first contact with the new galaxy." She returned to the podium, her fist pounding it in frustration. "We're starting from a deficit in gaining the angaran trust. They already were skittish after being betrayed by the kett, only for our ex members to come in and effectively take over their home."

Motioning Lexi to come up and stand next to her, Jien's voice took on a measure of hope. "Now the big question is 'why.' We screened everyone before inviting them to the Initiative. Stress profiles, criminal backgrounds, reasons for making the trip, and in many cases their military service. Even if we missed a few bad apples, there is no way over twenty thousand people across multiple species all conned their way through the system just for the opportunity to set up a new 'Omega' in Andromeda. For this reason I've worked with Sloane and Overlord Morda from the krogan colony of New Tuchanka on Elaaden," a final planet showed up on the map, "to get samples of various Milky Way people to see if we could figure out what went so wrong. I'm turning over the next part of this briefing to Dr. Lexi T'Perro, medical expert aboard the human Pathfinder ship Tempest. Lexi?" Jien left the podium, moving to take a empty chair next to the wizard. The leader of the Initiative breathed a sigh of relief, relieved to not have made any embarrassing errors. She smiled as she felt Harry squeeze her shoulder in support, leaning into the touch for a moment before pulling herself back to the meeting.

"Thank you director" Lexi nodded to her boss before tapping her omnitool, the screen behind her changing to show two photos of a human brain side by side. "This scan is of Joel Nicholas, age twenty five, species human, origin Earth, and signed on to be a hydroponics farmer in the first wave of settlers. Joel was part of the failed rebellion on the Nexus, choosing to follow Sloane to their new planet. He has been categorized by the planetary militia as overly aggressive but mostly non confrontational unless provoked. What you see behind me are the brain scans of Mr. Nicholas from the screening before the trip, and one from two days ago performed by a doctor with substandard equipment. Even with that obstacle," she pointed to the newer scan where darker portions of the brain were highlighted, "you can clearly see that the brain was affected by the term 'freezer burn'. The cryo storage has caused portions of the brain to atrophy for a lack of better term, still alive but effectively stunted, or in a few extreme cases, becoming entirely non-functional." She paused for a moment, letting the reaction of the revelation work it's way through the room. "We have seen effects of this on all species that have made the trip though symptoms have manifested themselves in different ways."

A picture of a man now showed on the wall. "Humans have shown a distrust to authority and belief in conspiracy against themselves at times. A lack of empathy is also a common occurrence. Extreme cases of this are seen on Elaaden from the 'samples' Morda has sent back. Humans there are so bad off that they can't even function with the rest of the outcasts, preferring to either stay in small packs or just remain in isolation from everyone."

The picture changed to an asari maiden. "Asari symptoms manifest differently depending on the stage they are in. Maidens experience a drop in inhibitions, prompting them to take far greater risks than has ever been deemed acceptable in our culture for the purpose of experiencing new thrills in life. It is no surprise that most of the asari that sided with the outcasts are still maidens. Matrons seem to have their biological clocks amplified, willingly choosing mates that barely meet their preferences for genetic donors. The only reason this has not caused a baby boom yet was due to the stringent birth control policy implemented by leadership. We have yet to see how matriarchs are affected due to there not being any who are currently thawed out. Only a dozen chose to take the journey instead of spending their sunset years on Thessia, and out of that two of them were Nexus leadership who died in the initial scourge collision. On the Ark Leusinia, the former Pathfinder Matriarch Ishara was the only one to be thawed in the first wave.

The picture switched to a salarian. "As much as I hate to say it, the only thing we have noted so far in salarians is increased paranoia. As callous as it may sound, the salarians short life span may mean that many of the symptoms will go undocumented due to the current generation dying off before they are diagnosed." The salarian scientist stared down at the table with a frown, unable to refute the claim. His human colleague leaned over to whisper in his ear, causing the salarian's face to firm up a minute later, his resolution on display to everyone.

A turian showed up on the screen next. "This will be tricky to explain" the asari doctor hedged, prompting the turians to narrow their eyes. "Keep in mind that I'm explaining this from an outsider perspective so please speak up if you need something clarified or if I accidentally offend anyone." A quick nod from Kandros prompted her to continue. "Turian culture has always been about following orders above all else. This is a mark of a good turian and citizen in their culture." Not seeing any arguments so far she elaborated. "This doesn't mean that Turians don't question what they consider bad orders though, or interpret them to somehow mitigate damage while still carrying them out."

The turian scientist moved to protest, only to be cut off by a raised talon from Kandros. "Let her finish" the head of the Nexus militia all but ordered. "This is too important for wounded pride. Our people are at stake." The scientist bowed his head in apology, prompting the security head to turn back to Lexi. "My apologies for the interruption doctor. Please continue."

"No problem…" the doctor of the Tempest trailed off, not expecting to be identified. Shaking herself, she forced her mind back on track. "The damage in turians has manifested itself in a lack of free thinking. Orders are absolute when received from someone they deem an authority figure. To our knowledge there were no turian leaders who left the Nexus after the uprising, only the subordinates of other species who chose to leave."

Finally, a krogan male showed up on the screen. Lexi turned to stare at the image for a moment before shrugging. "Frankly, we have no idea if the krogan are showing symptoms at all. There's evidence that their brains were affected by the cryo, but due to either biological redundancies or their ridiculous healing factor we couldn't actually find anything different in their behavior. That's actually why we brought you into the meeting Superintendent" she said, turning to Kesh. "Have you noticed anything different in any of your people from the norm?"

Kesh's eyes narrowed as she thought, either unaware or uncaring that the rest of the eyes in the room rested solely on her. "Not that I'm aware of," she finally offered up after a minute of consideration. "We're all still trying to work together to build a colony for the most part instead of going our separate ways. A few joined the outcasts, but mainly as a way to keep communication up between the two groups and to work as mercenaries." She chuckled as she thought about the situation. "They're just doing what all krogan have done since the rebellion failed. Finding work wherever it's available. It's the same reason I stayed behind here. We need to keep an eye on the Initiative as well incase they ever get the idea that the galaxy might be better off without us."

"That won't ever happen Kesh" Jien said as she quickly inserted herself into the discussion before tempers managed to be frayed by the krogan's blunt description of her people's fears. Turning to the angara, she swept her hand back to the screen that now showed the cluster map again. "You need to know this as much as the rest of us. We don't want the actions of the mentally unstable to poison your perceptions of us before we have a chance to earn your trust." The Moshae nodded her head, already formulating how she would inform Evfra and the rest of the resistance leaders about the news. Turning back to her personnel, Jien clapped her hands. "Now then, Let's not let this get to the general population until we can develop an actual cure. Our people are already on edge enough without starting another panic. We all need to be aware of this though when dealing with the outcasts. The way they are now is not entirely their fault and we need to help them even if they won't appreciate it. Initiative doesn't abandon its own!"

"Yes ma'am!" the crew sounded off, coming to their feet as they were moved by her speech. They began to file out of the room at her dismissal, amped up to try and find a cure for their people as soon as possible.

The angara duo smiled at the scene, reminded of the dedication of their resistance brothers and sisters. Jien noticed the women had remained seated, prompting her to sit on the table across from them. "What is it you need Moshae? Can I help clarify anything from the briefing?"

"That's quite all right Ms Garson" the Moshae assured her, making a calming gesture with her hand. "The information was received loud and clearly. I just wished to ask for a favor if you will allow it." Jien leaned forward in curiosity, prompting the elderly angara to thank her ancestors that human expressions were similar to her own for many emotions. "I'd like for Darra here to join the Pathfinder and his crew if they can take her. She is a fully trained resistance fighter and would not be a detriment to the team during combat."

Jien nodded slowly, considering the request. "I know she won't be. Scott has sent reports of her working hand in hand with his team on the rescue mission they did to release you from the kett facility. My question is why you need her on the team. Is Jaal not doing a good enough job reporting back to you?"

"No!" Darra quickly sprang to her fellow angara's defense, horrified at the thought that they were damaging his credibility. "It is nothing of the sort. We just would have different missions. Jaal is directed to report on the Initiative's movements and missions to the resistance as well as act as a go between for the two groups." She looked away for a second, her embarrassment clear as day to the Moshae. "I would still help the Pathfinder any way I can, but my main mission would be to report on Harry and be his go between between himself and my people."

"Why would you possibly need a separate representative for Harry?" Jien couldn't help but question, feeling as if she was missing something big that no one had told her about yet.

The Moshae smiled beautifully for a moment, enjoying the fact that they had surprised the normally unflappable Initiative leader. "We need one because he isn't technically a member of the Initiative to our understanding. Jaal reported that he works hand in hand with you but never actually joined up before the expedition to Andromeda began, only announcing himself after you arrived and getting arrested for stowing away. The Pathfinder has him on a work release program to avoid staying locked up."

"Yeah…" Harry drawled from his seat, surprising the women who had forgotten that he was still there, "that pretty much describes my situation perfectly." He pushed himself lazily to his feet, striding over to sit next to Ms Garson and officially join the conversation. "Not to say that I'm against joining or anything" he assured Jien, "things have just been happening so fast that it never came up. We haven't had much down time between missions." Turning towards the angara that he had become friends with, he offered a small authentic smile to them. "I would love to work with Darra again if ever given the opportunity though. I trust her with my life." Said angarra's skin turned a darker violet around the folds on the sides of her neck as she looked anywhere but the wizard's direction, causing the Moshae's smile to grow even larger at the sight.

Deep in the back of Jien's head, a small voice practically screamed at her to not let this woman get closer to Harry than she already was. It was drown out by the rational portion though, prompting her diplomatic response with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "It's ok with me if it's ok with Harry. The Pathfinder will have the final say though seeing as it's his ship and team." The angara thanked her before taking their leave, determined to track Scott down as soon as possible. Turning towards the wizard, she bumped his hip against his with a genuine smile. Time alone with him was few and far between, each moment precious in the whirlwind that was her life. "So what's a girl gotta do to get a drink around here?" she asked as she tried to pull him to his feet. It was too bad the bar was the only place to go to unwind at the moment.

The wizard resisted her, unwilling to be lead out of the room just yet. "Is anyone using this room for the next few hours?" he asked as he turned off his omnitool, before reaching over and deactivating hers as well.

"No…" Jien trailed off, curious to see where this was going. "It's my personal briefing room and this was my last meeting for the day. I kept my schedule open in case it took longer. Why?" Her answer was a simple strip of silk held up to her by the wizard. "And what am I supposed to do with this?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Harry simply huffed, "SAM" he called out, "Let me know if the rooms electronics experience anything out of the ordinary please" The security camera in the corner of the room pulsed orange once in affirmation before it shut down, the AI withdrawing to passively monitor the room. The wizard grabbed her shoulder to turn her around before placing the silk over her eyes and tying it tight behind her head. "Why the hell do women always assume it's for something other than a blindfold?" he asked out loud as he pulled his wand from it's holster while keeping a hand on her arm to keep her in place.

"Because we all have dirty minds" came the unexpected response from Jien as she grinned unrepentantly in his direction. Her ears began to hear all kinds of whooshing noises, followed by a small blast that startled her. The ringing in her ears began to recede after a moment, allowing her to hear her own voice again. "God damnit Harry! Warn a woman before you do something like that! And what the hell was with that blast?!" She tore off her blindfold before stopping dead in her tracks, confusion trumping all other emotions as she took in the sight around her. The cold gray metal walls had disappeared, a sandy beach now under her feet that stretched in either direction as far as the eye could see. In front of her was an ocean, it's water clear and calm enough to see all the way to the bottom. A warm breeze kissed her skin as the sounds of the waves filled her ears with their rhythmic crashing against the shore. She looked upwards, immediately shielding her eyes from the sun that merrily blazed overhead.

A thud prompted her to look to her left where the wizard now sat in the sand as he wiped a sleeve across his brow to take off the sweat that had accumulated from his casting. "It's mostly illusions" the wizard explained to her questioning look. "My school had something similar allowing us to see the sky outside from inside our dining hall. The magic interested me enough to want to learn how it was done. The sand is real, as well as the water for about twenty feet out to sea if you want a swim though. I put enough energy in it to give you five hours before this reverts back to the meeting room again." He slowly stood up, feeling his spine pop as he came upright. "You look like you needed the break" he explained to the woman who stared at him with rapt attention. "We both know that you went through a horrible experience and lost some of your friends right before it. I've been there and believe me, burying yourself in work will only delay it for so long. Better to take some time for yourself now and destress before you...*Whomp*"

One moment he was staring at the water, and the next he found himself flat on his back again with the sun hanging lazily overhead in the corner of his view. "Thank you" he heard from the woman now hugging herself to his chest like her life depended on it. "Addison and Kesh knew something was wrong but I wasn't ready to talk to them yet. The rest just assumed that nothing ever phased me and kept right on expecting me to fix everything." She sniffled, leaning back far enough to wipe a sleeve across her red rimmed eyes. "I think I'm going to enjoy this even more than you expect me to."

"Well if you're going to than you really are missing something important" the wizard informed her as they both got up, receiving a confused expression from the woman. He waved his hand, conjuring up a changing screen a little farther up the beach. "Your swimsuit" he explained as if it was obvious, causing the woman to laugh in embarrassment.

"I don't have a swimsuit" Jien complained, only to stop as he cast a unknown spell at her, making her clothes glow blue for a moment. Waving his hand again, a black bikini on a hanger appeared in her arms to her surprise. She giggled as he pushed her towards the changing station, taking her time to slip into it as she heard him tap his foot in impatience. It was all worth it though as she watched his jaw drop as she walked back into the open and struck a pose, hand on her hip above the small piece of fabric that helped hide her modesty.

She sauntered forwards slowly, enjoying herself as she watched him valiantly recover his bearing before turning away from her with obvious struggle. He waved his hand again, prompting a beach lounger chair to appear that she immediately lowered herself onto without being prompted. The sand being disturbed near her head prompted her to open her eyes only to find a bottle of suntan lotion and a bucket of ice with a six pack of corona waiting for her. She spotted Harry stand back up, turning towards where the door was as he prepared to leave her to her new found paradise much to her displeasure. Flipping onto her stomach, she looked over her shoulder with the most innocent expression she could muster. "Harry?" she called, halting his escape as he turned back to her. "I need help with the lotion." The wizard gulped as he watched her untie the bikini from her back as she lay back down, aware that he had lost control of the situation somewhere in the last few minutes.

Jien simply smiled as he got to work on her back. She could practically feel his eyes burning a hole in her as they took in every curve she had on display. Taking advantage of his distraction, she flipped her omnitool back on before angling it perfectly to capture a selfie of her smiling with Harry lotioning her back as the ocean crashed in the background. She quickly sent the picture to Addison with the caption 'Wish you were here :-)'

She was just starting to relax as Harry began working on her thighs when her omnitool showed a new message from her friend. _'BITCH!_ 'Jien laid her head back down as she closed her eyes. Life was good.

XXXXXX

Vetra was supervising the restocking of the Tempest, preparing the ship to immediately head back out into space even though they had been given two days of leave. The turian had awoken from a deep slumber, her body feeling lighter and limber than before she had gone into cryo. She turned her head to see what time it was, only to find a bar of turian chocolate on her bedside table with a note attached to it.

 _Hope you slept well. You looked like you needed it. Here's a little wake up gift to get the spring back in your step._

 _-Harry_

 _P.S. Who the hell said it was ok to move into my house?!_

Vetra chuckled to herself as she unwrapped her treat, taking a bite of it and savoring the taste as she updated the manifest. She intended to get the work done ahead of schedule, allowing her the opportunity to hunt down Harry and 'thank' him for his sweet gift. The turian had bullied Gil and Liam into assisting her, the two men grumbling to themselves as they sorted the inventory to get loaded on the ship. Requisitioning a heavy lifter to actually bring the crates to the ship might have taken half the day with the shortage of resources and the high demand from Kesh. The krogan superintendent was working tirelessly to get the station fully built and operational, with generous use of her new repair gun to expedite the process. Luckily for Vetra, she had her own krogan labor just a bribe away for all her heavy lifting needs.

Drack grunted as he readjusted the two crates of food on his shoulders, shifting the weight enough to allow him to kick the open switch to the Tempest. He waited impatiently for the ramp to go down before plodding forwards, looking forward to off loading the last of the supplies and getting the barrel of Ryncol that was promised to him by Competent-turian. He wasn't sure what Not-a-cop and Engine-monkey were promised, but he would be damn if he shared any of the good stuff with them.

The krogan sat back in his hammock with human heavy metal playing in the background. His people had adopted the style as one of their own after the new species had made it out on the world stage, the music reminding the reptiles of combat and violence. Wrex had claimed _Metallica_ as the official band of the Clan Urdnot, creating a rush from the other clans to find a band that represented them. Drack considered himself quite lucky to have _Slayer_ be Clan Nakmor's official music. It was a better choice in his opinion anyways, the music consistently loud from start to finish.

He had just turned on the music on his omnitool and leaned back to take a swig of his alcohol when he felt a small weight settle on his stomach. The krogan rolled his eyes, knowing the orange vermin was stalking him again. The krogan had attempted eating the animal when he had first seen it roaming the cargo bay. It had looked as if it would be a tasty snack to the giant reptile. Twin-with-a-quad had put a stop to his feast violently though, using her biotics to throw him across the room right when he had the beast cornered. She had stated that she would cave his head in if he ever tried anything like that again, earning her pet a reprieve from the dinosaur.

To Drack, the matter was settled. He would leave the hairball alone, and it would keep away from him. The only problem was it wouldn't stay away! The damn thing would consistently ignored who ever tried to give it attention as it stalked the krogan. It would stop dead when ever he turned towards it, but begin moving again when he turned away. He could almost respect it if he didn't intend to eat it the first chance he got.

Lifting up his keg, the krogan looked at the orange fuzz ball on top of his chestplate. The kitten meowed before nudging something forward with its paw. The krogan raised a scaly eyebrow at the sight of a severed mouse head that lay on his armor. This he could understand! The lesser predator recognized his dominance and brought forth an offering of the choice parts of it's kill. The krogan lifted up the mouse head, examining it for a moment before opening his maw and throwing the morsel into it. He chased it down with the rest of his ryncol before nodding to the feline and laying his head back to sleep. The cat spun in a circle before curling up in a ball on the krogan's chestplate. It's purring meshed perfectly with the intro to _Raining Blood._

"Don't they just look so cute together?" Sara couldn't help but stare as her kitten made a new cuddle buddy. Scott rolled his eyes before elbowing his twin to get her attention again. He raised his omnitool up to show her the screen, a complex diagram on display. The title of it on the top of the screen proudly displayed 'Operation Potter Downfall.' The female twin hated what was about to happen, but vengeance had to be achieved. She would allow Harry to make it up to her afterwards…

XXXXXX

"You remember where the crew bunks are right?" Harry asked Darra as he shouldered the container that held her armor and belongings. They had arrived on the ship minutes ago, the wizard insisting on helping his friend getting squared away.

The angara nodded, taking the opportunity to run her hand through his hair again. The texture was something she never got tired of, along with the fact that it always sprang back up into its shape again no matter what way she tried to brush it. She looked forward to many more opportunities to play with it in the future. "I'll be taking the one above Jaal" she repeated with a smile before taking her possessions back. "Now go on and finish up your work. We'll have plenty of time on the trip to catch up. I need to say farewell to the Moshae before we depart."

Harry watched her go before walking back to his tent. The ship was deserted, not a sound to be heard. The rest of the crew had already disembarked, set to meet up later at the bar to go over mission details while getting shit-faced drunk. He had planned on getting changed to a fresh set of clothes but stopped as he found Cora sitting on a trunk in the middle of the cargo bay. The woman gave a melancholy smile at the wizard as she stood up to walk towards him. "I'm leaving" was her simple explanation to his unasked question. "The asari are short on experienced huntresses from the 'Siege in the Scourge.' Sarissa asked me to come on as her second in command and back up Pathfinder for the asari until she could train up one of the newbies. I'll be helping her get them ready to face the kett and whatever else is out there waiting for us. You're the last one I need to say goodbye to before I depart."

"But… we need you!" the wizard said, his words coming out before his brain could catch up with his mouth. Real friends were always in short supply for the wizard and needed to be guarded like his life depended on it. "I need you" he said in barely a whisper.

It was still loud enough for Cora to make out though, bringing a radiant smile to her face as she pulled the Harry into a tight hug. "This is only temporary. I'll be back aboard before you know it." She pulled back far enough to stare him in the eyes without relinquishing her hold. "Promise me that you'll keep the crew safe until I make it back."

"I promise" the wizard said solemnly, his magic flaring for a moment before wrapping around both of her arms. She couldn't tell how, but she knew he meant it. The worry she had in the back of her heart eased up, giving her the strength for one more daring. She leaned forward, catching his lips in a kiss. It wasn't long, and it wasn't erotic, but it meant more to her than she could possibly put into words as he kissed her back.

They pulled back from each other reluctantly, neither satisfied with ending the experience so soon. "Stay safe" she ordered him after a moment, before lifting her storage container over her shoulder and walking to the ramp. She refused to turn around, knowing if she did than she would be running back to his arms instead of moving forward to help the Initiative. A slight tingling was felt before the container lightened up to only a fraction of its original weight. Straightening up her posture, the blonde huntress walked down the ramp with her head held high and the magic of her friend accompanying her on her next adventure.

'Well fuck' Harry thought to himself. 'We gain someone just to lose someone else a minute later.' He tensed as he felt a orange light sweep over him, swinging around to find Scott with his omnitool pointed his way. A slight sting was felt on his ass cheek, causing him to reach back and grasp the offending item. Holding it up, he found himself staring at a syringe with the plunger already pushed to its base. Sara stood a little farther back wearing a slightly less demented grin than her brother, guilt coloring her perception a bit. "E tu Sara?" the wizard asked as he sank to his knees, already knowing what this was for.

"I'm sorry Harry" he heard her say as his eyes began to close. "This will hurt me far worse than it'll hurt you."

 **A/N: Short chapter needed to finish up loose ends. Time to move on from the Nexus and back into space. We say hello to new crew and goodbye to old ones. Plot holes the size of the Citadel were left in the original story line of Andromeda. Closing them up while keeping the plot alive is a bitch.**

 **This is it for me until 2019. Hope you enjoy the rest of the holidays. Everyone but that one guy. Fuck him. He knows who he is.**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Welcome To The Jungle

A loud beat was the first thing that Harry noticed as he returned to the waking world. The kind of bass that makes one's body vibrate from the inside out. This was forgotten almost immediately when the next thing he noticed was Scott in full drag, sitting across from him at a booth in the corner of the only bar on the Nexus. The Pathfinder looked absolutely miserable, a ridiculous wig of curly blonde hair sat askew on his head while an absolutely nightmarish coating of makeup had been applied to his face. The 'man', and the wizard used that term loosely, wore what looked like an altered version of his standard hoodie and pants combo. Only the hoodie now sported an impressive pair of mounds in the pectoral region that looked extremely out of place. The wizard blinked hard once… twice… No, this wasn't a dream. "What the fuck Scott!?" he blurted out, his startled voice not making it past the booth before being drowned out by the noise. Harry couldn't decide just where this situation fell on the scale of horrifying and hilarious.

"Some stuff happened since you've been knocked out…" the Pathfinder explained before taking a long pull of his drink, the liquid courage seeming to be the only thing keeping him in his seat. He gestured behind him towards the rest of the bar, which now seemed to be absolutely crammed full of women from various species. Asari, human, turian, angaran, and even a lone krogan female all jostled each other as they stood shoulder to shoulder facing the stage at the front of the room where a very uncomfortable looking Tiran Kandros stood in what looked like a pair of turian formal clothes. The noise was absolutely deafening as everyone in the room attempted to shout at once, their voices combining into almost a roar that mixed with the bass. "Initially I found out that Foster and Jien were setting up a date auction and figured I'd enter you into it" Scott explained when Harry finally looked back at him. "Now that we have colonies started, the ban on procreation is being rescinded. Events like this were set to raise morale and encourage people to pair up so we can get the next generation started." He sighed before draining the rest of his glass. Pulling uncomfortably at his shirt to 're-adjust', he gestured towards his outfit. "Sara found out and volunteered to help me catch you. I welcomed the assistance thinking she'd help me set up the prank." He scowled, the angry expression doing interesting things to the heavy eyeshadow he wore. "Turns out she had an alternate agenda. She blackmailed me into dressing like this to keep an eye on you until it's your turn to be bid on." He nodded to the corner of the bar where Sara, Kesh, Cora, Jien, PeeBee, Vetra, and Darra could be seen standing in a group and ignoring the current auction. "Now I'm stuck here with you. If I leave early then I get outed and put on stage too."

"I think we should call a truce for a while" Harry remarked as he palmed his wand. A quick spell created a dome of silence around them, pushing back the noise and allowing his brain to function again as it worked off the remnants of the knockout drug. "Much better" he observed, getting a nod in thanks from his friend. "Now what is stopping me from transporting myself right out of here before this goes any further? And what the hell are they even using to bid with? The currency here is pretty much useless until the economy starts back up again."

"The only thing keeping you here is your sense of fair play" Scott observed with a shrug, his need to keep the wizard there gone now that the truce was declared. Life couldn't get much worse in the man's opinion. "You aren't the type to leave me high and dry, which I'm pretty sure is what Sara was banking on now that I think about it…" His head lowered as he realized just how far he had been outplayed by his own sibling. "She really is the evil twin out of the two of us" he observed to himself, earning a laugh from his friend. Shaking it off, he reached into his pocket and pulling out a datapad that displayed a picture of a standard credit with a picture of Jien displayed proudly in the center of it. "All the women were given these a week ago and told to keep them a secret from the males. It's some unofficial form of currency that the women can trade each other for that is used for bidding in events like this. Not sure if it's a good idea to introduce an unofficial form of money into a fledgling economy but that's one of the few things in this galaxy that's not my problem."

The silencing spell was broken as someone entered the perimeter of it, the sound hitting the men like a physical force. Sarissa Theris slowly sauntered towards the table, her blue eyes locked in on the wizard as she walked up to him. Her eyes turned to look at the other occupant of the booth, confused at why the mystery woman looked so familiar before widening in disbelief. She gasped before doubling over in laughter, unable to keep her legendary asari composure after seeing the state of her fellow Pathfinder. "Just hurry up and get it out of your system" Scott said as he crossed his arms under his bust, accentuating his problem even more and making it worse for the asari as she attempted to recover herself.

"I'm not even going to ask" she said with a large smile, "SAM will give me the details later on." She turned towards Harry, offering her hand. "Your adoring fans await Mr Potter. I'm here to escort you to the stage." Harry grumbled to himself as he climbed out of the booth, his eyes shifting towards the exit and questioning if it really was worth going through with this farce. "I can rescue you if you want" the asari said as if reading his thoughts. She leaned in towards his ear in an attempt to keep their conversation private. "I'll get you out of this with out requiring a date, but you'll owe me one."

The voices fell silent as Harry climbed up on the stage. He could feel himself being scrutinized by hundreds of pairs of eyes that judged him on every visible detail. The lull in volume ended swiftly as a comotion came from the back of the crowd. The alpha females had begun their approach, bids already being offered up towards the human MC who had her work cut out for her as she tried to keep track of them. The rest of the crowd was still unaware of who this mystery man was. Seeing their leaders bidding excitedly was enough of an incentive for them to join in though, the other women obviously knowing something that they didn't. The wizard stared at the building frenzy in alarm before quickly nodding his agreement towards the asari pathfinder who had been observing from the side of the stage. Sarissa smirked at him before walking to the MC and whispering in her ear. The human's eyes bugged out before raising her hands for silence. "Sold to Pathfinder Sarissa Theris " she announced before gesturing to the asari. "Thank you for the bids ladies. The next man will be brought on stage in a few minutes so don't go anywhere!"

Harry breathed a sigh of relief as he climbed down from the stage and made for the door. That one was one bullet he had managed to dodge. He had just entered into the botanical garden when a blue arm snaked itself around his neck and landed on his shoulders. "Let's talk" the asari Pathfinder said as she lead the wizard towards a bench at the back of the garden. He noticed that her other arm was around Scott's shoulders as both of the men were steered towards isolated part of the station's green space.

Harry waved his arm, casting a quick _scourgify_ at Scott to clear the makeup before transfiguring his clothes back into the correct uniform, minus the lumps. "Thank god!" the Pathfinder exclaimed as he pulled off the wig and leaned back on the bench with a sigh of relief. "That was something I never want to have to do again" he said as he stomped down on the fake hair as if it was a bug that needed to be squashed.

"Just remember, it's only temporary" his friend warned him. "You'll need to go back to the ship and change if you don't want the dress and… um… padding to come back again." He paused, unable to stop his curiosity from coming to the surface. "What the hell were those made fo anyways? They looked way too real to just be socks in a bra or something basic."

Scott shivered as he recalled the process. "Sara employed Lexi to help make it as real as possible to make me appreciate what women had to go through. They used medical silicon to form 'them' and put them in a bra that I had to wear. It hurt like hell" he admitted as he massaged his shoulders. "I don't know how you deal with that all the time" he observed to Sarissa as she listened to the conversation with an amused smile.

"You get used to it" she explained, her expression displaying her superiority towards the inferior species. "It's why our pain threshold is always higher than a man's. Now let's get down to business since I'm sure my fellow Pathfinder would like to get changed before anything bad happens." She ignored Scott's alarmed look, leaning into his personal space while placing a hand on Harry's knee as if claiming him. "One Pathfinder to another, I need to borrow Mr Potter for the next mission. You can have him back afterwards."

"Why would I agree to something like that?" Scott asked with a frown, not appreciating the attempted poaching of his team member. "He's an integral part of my team and one of my best friends." He ignored the startled look from the wizard at his admission, choosing to press on instead of confront the awkward moment. "We'll be severely restricted on an already dangerous mission without him. What is stopping you from building your own team instead of taking mine?"

"I'm not trying to take your team!" the asari huffed in exasperation at the human's bullheadedness. "We both have missions to Havarl next. You are going to be assisting the angara with recovering some missing researchers. Foster has assigned me to investigating possible turian ark sightings. Considering the condition that both of ours were in when arriving in Andromeda, it only makes sense to bring along someone who can possibly help with repairs. I'll have him back to you as soon as the mission is complete, most likely before you even finish your mission."

"It's not up to me" the Pathfinder admitted, now that he understood the situation a little better. He crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back on the bench and looked at his friend. "I'm not against it since it's for a good cause but it'll be Harry's decision. His only promise was to help the Initiative in exchange for joining us." He neglected to mention that included allowing the wizard to be released from incarceration. Who wanted to live in the past after all?

"I'll do it" Harry said after a moment of quiet contemplation. "If it's for a good cause like saving thousands of lives, then I guess I can tolerate teaming up with an Asari" he said with a playful smile.

"Damn right you can" Sarissa exclaimed as she shoved him in the shoulder, "though I'm the one tolerating your presence. Try not to drag me down too much Magic Man." She slowly pushed herself up from the bench, exaggerating the movements to the extent that it made her feel like she was trying out for a trashy romance vid. It was worth the trouble though as she felt both men stare at her ass with the same intensity that a krogan would give a side of beef. 'Still got it' she mentally cheered to herself as she began to walk away with a little extra sway to her hips. "Oh, and Harry?" she called over her shoulder, breaking the now sheepish looking wizard from his trance. "Grab your gear and meet me at the docking bay tomorrow morning. I'll see about getting us an Initiative shuttle."

The wizard fired off a sloppy salute before noticing the state of the Pathfinder next to him. He smacked Scott over the head to break him out of his hypnosis, earning himself a disgruntled look for his trouble. "I admit the view is nice, but you were wayyyy too into it" he observed as he stood up from the bench. "Are you sure that you escaped from the asari under your own power back when you were mobbed?"

"I may or may not have been dumped after I was no longer able to perform" the Pathfinder admitted, feeling very little shame after having been able to outlast five matrons. "The point is that I escaped and lived to tell the tail." He began the trek back to the ship, almost sad to be leaving the green and returning to the metal walls. "Let's go and get you prepped for your next mission while we have some quiet time. That is, unless you want to go back into the club and let them know about your new mission?" He laughed to himself as he heard his friend's footsteps quickly catch up to his.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hate this place!" Harry wheezed to himself as he pushed past another bush, his eyes frantically scanning around for possible threats as he stumbled on. He had long ago lost all sense of direction, simply knowing that he had to keep moving. To stop meant that his pursuers would catch up to him, and that meant death.

Nothing had gone right ever since first setting foot on Havarl. Harry and Sarissa had initially stuck with Ryder's team after landing on the planet. Jaal had introduced the teams to the local angaran research staff, leading to the human Pathfinder's team receiving numerous side missions added onto to the priority request to save the trapped researchers in the activated remnant pillar. They had ventured straight into the jungle after that, lack of paths forcing them to make liberal use of their boosters to avoid thick patches of undergrowth. The local wildlife had not taken kindly to trespassers in their territory, attacking the Milky Way explorers every chance available with utter ruthlessness. The group seperated a few hundred meters in, Ryder's team veering off into the cliffs on the right while Sarissa and Harry had continued to push deeper into the jungle.

It had taken less than half an hour for the situation to go tits up. Harry was following close behind Sarissa when his helmet speakers began to pick up what sounded like angaran voices talking quietly to each other. He quickly reached out, grabbing his companion's shoulder to stop her movement and pointing to his helmet at her inquisitive look. Switching to a private channel, he tried to describe what was happening. "I think I'm hearing angara somewhere out there, but that can't be right. The scientists said they pulled in the rest of their teams after the incident and no one else should be out here."

Sarissa sat silently for a minute, listening to the voices as well before shrugging her shoulders. "Sure sounds like they're out here. We should go introduce ourselves to avoid any friendly fire incidents." She began to climb the steep hillside, feet slipping a little with each step thanks to the mud that seemed to coat absolutely every inch of space that a plant chose not to take over. There was almost no warning when they came under fire. A stump exploded to their left as a stray round shattered it, prompting them to dive to the ground even as their shields began to drain from sustained fire. "Hold your fire!" Sarissa hollered, working to be heard over the gunfire. "We're friendlies!"

"You are no friends to the Roekaar!" a distinctly angaran voice echoed from farther up the hill. A rifle being cocked accompanied the declaration to clear up any possible misunderstanding about implied threats.

"We know all about you and your lies Milky Way!" shouted a female angara from a closer position. "All aliens must die before we can be truly free!" A apple sized metallic orb rolled down the hillside towards the two, a light blinking on the top of it.

"Fuck!" Sarissa shouted as she dived at Harry, a biotic shield covering the both of them as she braced herself. Harry decided a more direct response was in order, waving his hand and banishing the grenade back in the direction that it had come from. An agonizing scream indicated that the explosive had been successfully returned to its sender, earning the wizard a pat on the back from his asari partner as she pulled him to his feet.

"Onraya!" the original attacker's voice could be hear as he cried out in anguish. "No! You can't die!" Gunfire began to pick up again as the enraged enemy blind fired into the underbrush at the bottom of the hill. "You think I am alone up here?! You're going to die aliens!"

"That's our cue" the asari whispered, tapping the wizard on the shoulder as she withdrew backwards into the trees. "We need to get out of here before this gets any worse." She took off running towards the distant cliffs that ringed their valley, moving gracefully like a cat. Harry felt downright clumsy as he plodded along behind her, his feet feeling like they sank twice as far into the ground with each step compared to the asari. Their pursuers seemed to share the same ease of movement, their voices seeming to get louder by the minute.

'This isn't going to work' Harry thought with dismay. 'Time to try something new.' "Hold up!" he called to his companion, bringing her to an abrupt stop. "I need you to pull your biotics into your body" he instructed as he pulled out his wand. The asari's eyes lit up in excitement as she saw what he was attempting, thrilled to get to see his special powers in use again. He put a disillusionment charm on himself, shivering at the feeling of an egg running down his back. He followed it up with a silencing spell on his feet before repeating them on Sarissa. "Now get over here and get in the bushes" he instructed as he grabbed where her arm should be. She gasped as they suddenly became visible again, physical contact negating the spell's hiding effects to each other.

They ducked out of the way not a moment too soon as a group of twenty angara dressed in an unfamiliar uniform thundered by, each of them sporting a weapon of some kind with their faces twisted in rage. The group slowed to a walk as they noticed the trail disappear, unsure of what direction the enemy had gone in. "Find them!" the obvious leader urged as they began to fan out. "They will not get away with Onraya!"

"I bet they're with that other camp of the invaders" one of the angara commented to his partner as they combed the underbrush, inadvertently drawing harry and Sarissa's full attention.

"Can't be" his partner disagreed as he turned to head back to the group "the only species there are the metal birds. We haven't seen any of the blue or pink skin ones here until just now."

Harry felt a sharp tap on his shoulder, looking to see Sarissa as she indicated to the angara closest to them. "Bring him here silently. We need to have a word." The wizard waited for the rest of the angara to turn back before casting a silent stunner at his targets back. He summoned the body to him before it could fall over, silencing the landing and disillusioning it for good measure. A quick _incarcerous_ left it tied up in ropes and unable to move. "Wonderful job Magic Man" the asari praised as she removed the headgear and comm piece from the alien before slapping it on the face hard enough to wake it up.

"Huh? Wha.." it blinked groggily as if shaking off a hangover before a hand covered it's mouth.

"Shhhh" the asari leaned into his view, her finger to her lips to indicate silence. "Your friends can't find you right now so the next few minutes will be very important if you want to live or not. Nod your head if you understand." He frantically nodded, his eyes not missing the grim face of the human as it also stared back at him. "Good, that's very good…" she said as she softly stroked the side of the aliens head, rewarding his compliance. "Now can you please tell me why we are your enemy when we never have even met before today?"

"All of your kinds are" the angara hissed, his eyes taking on a fanatical shine as if he was reciting a religious texts. "All of you are the same whether it's the kett or you new aliens! All you do is lie, cheat, steal, or kill us. You are not welcome in Andromeda and the Roekaar will make sure you are driven out!"

"That's bullshit!" Harry exclaimed, unable to hold it in any longer. He ignored Sarissa's warning look, indicating that he should shut up. "We just helped rescue your Moshae on Voeld a week ago! We even helped make the planet liveable again as well as helped recover land on Aya for you."

"It matters not!" the angara insisted, his head swiveling back and forth between his captors. "You set up a colony for yourselves on Voeld and have requested to do it on Aya as well even though it is sacred for us! The only time you help is when there is something in it for your people. That's why you're here isn't it?"

"Why we're here is not open for discussion" Sarissa interrupted, while punching Harry in the arm to shut him up. "Now tell me where this other camp is of the metal birds." The angara closed his mouth, refusing to speak as he struggled to break his bonds. "Look" the asari sighed at her prisoner's stubbornness, "we're here to take them back to our station. If you want them gone so bad from your planet then why not help us do it. It'll save your lives as well as our own." Her plea had no effect in making the alien open up much to her disappointment. "Plan B it is then" she chirped, looking much too happy. "Harry" she practically cooed, disturbing both males with her abrupt change in temperment. "Give this one some incentive to tell us what we need."

Harry sat still, simply staring a hole through her. He raised his omnitool, switching to a private channel. "I don't torture" he stated, his tone showing he was not in the mood for argument.

"Then don't" she said, as if it was a simple thing. "All we need is for him to think we are capable of it. Now do your thing" she said as she turned back towards the angara. "Just get the information from him and we're on our way. It's up to him how much he wants to put up with before he gives it up."

The human sighed before turning towards their prisoner. "I'm really sorry about this for what it's worth." He cast a quick cutting curse at a nearby tree, the targeted branch falling to the ground as it was severed from the trunk. The angara's eyes widened in fear as the wizard pointed his hand back at it's body. "I don't know that much about angara physiology" the wizard admitted sheepishly, "so you're going to have to help me if you want to live. What body parts can you have removed with out dieing?" The angara made choking noises as he stared in horror at the clearly unbalanced human, unable to respond. "You better give me something quick" said the human impatiently, "otherwise I'm just going to start guessing." He lowered his hands to the right knee of the prisoner, his hand beginning to glow with power.

"Fine!" the alien cried out, unable to withstand the pressure of impending pain. "You just proved exactly what our leaders are saying about you" he added disgustedly, before turning his head towards the distant cliffs. "The camp is in a small opening in the cliff face. You better hurry though" he said as a grin slowly creeped up on his face. "When they don't find you, my team will head straight there and attack." His joy was cut off early as a red light filled his vision before he passed out.

"You did great Magic Man" Sarissa said as she pulled her partner into a quick one armed hug. She could tell that he was not happy with what had just occurred, but their job didn't always have the luxury of being on the side of good when it came to protecting their people. The sooner he realised that, the better life would be. "We need to think up a plan though or those turians will be in for a world of hurt."

Harry sighed, turning away from the angara as he forcefully pulled himself out of his funk and back into the reality of the situation. "They're looking for us right? One of us needs to create a diversion while the other warns the turians of the attack and helps them fight it off."

"Works for me!" the asari exclaimed with a fire in her eyes as she stood up to scan the area. "You set up the biggest explosion you can to draw them off and I'll head over to our fellow Initiative members. Just be sure to stay hidden so they can't find you."

"No can do" Harry responded, laying a hand on her shoulder to stop her from running off. He picked up a twig from the ground before transfiguring it into a metal ring. He concentrated for a second, making the ring glow blue before he handed it to her. "You're on distraction duty. Pull them off of me for a few minutes, then say the name of our Ark out loud. That ring will transport you back to our shuttle. I need you to use it to provide air support for us at the base and to evacuate the turians. It has to be you since I have no idea how to pilot one."

The asari Pathfinder bit her lip as she went over his explanation, trying to find a hole in the logic that she could possibly use to argue against it. She was interrupted as gunfire began to echo in the distance, finishing the argument before she even had a chance to take part. Sarissa pulled the surprised wizard into an embrace, leaning her head forward until their foreheads touched. "May the goddess watch over you Harry Potter" she murmured, smiling lightly as he began to blush from the close proximity. "Don't die" she ordered, stepping away from him as she pulled out her pistol. She flared her biotics, breaking his spells as body became wreathed in a powerful blue field. She gave him a quick wink before disappearing into the jungle, sounds of explosions soon echoing above the canopy to mark her entrance into the battle.

"Better tell Scott what's going on" the wizard mumbled to himself as he activated the comms on his omnitool before he took off in the direction of the cliffs. The day had started out so nice too…

XXXXXX

"Get Down!" Avitus Rix shoulder checked his fellow turian, driving both of them off of the watch tower and free falling ten feet to the ground below. He landed with a thud, rolling onto his back just in time to see their post disappear in a cloud of flame as a missile crashed into it. The turian gave a silent 'thank you' to the spirits even as gunshots began to echo up and down the defense line, confident that one of them had just helped save his life. If he hadn't looked up just in time to spot the projectile's smoke trail, he would have had no warning before a very painful death.

'That's enough lazing around' he thought to himself, rolling onto his stomach before crab walking towards the wall of debris that his fellow turians had set up to defend their camp. "How many of them are there?" he called out to one of his lieutenants who had a better view point. He shouldered his rifle before leaning around the cover… and there, one of the aliens down with a new hole in it's forehead.

The officer cursed to herself as she drew back behind the wall, bullets ricocheting where she had been just moments ago. "No idea sir! I identified at least twenty of them but your guess is as good as mine."

"This isn't a probing attack" Avitus called out to his fellow defenders, leaning out to take another shot. He withdrew quickly as his biotic shields took a pounding from a sniper ready to for him. Time to change positions. "Defend with everything you have!" he ordered as he moved down the line, stopping to check the vitals of a downed turian. Dead. "These fuckers don't get to win today! This is where the legend of the turians in Andromeda start men. It's time to become one their nightmares for the next thousand years!" A roar sounded off from each of the defenders, the volume so loud that the shooting actually faltered for a moment as the enemy tired to understand where the shouting came from.

A flash of white light came from farther back in the trees, flying directly towards a pack of three of the aliens as they worked frantically to set up a crew mounted gun. The weapon, along with the three angara disappeared in a ball of flame, leaving only a charged circle of vegetation in their former position. Two more blasts appeared farther down the line, more and more of the attackers ceasing to exist before it became too much. The enemy melted back into the tree line, though Avitus couldn't tell if it was to escape or hunt down their rear attacker. He jumped as a sharp crack sounded from right behind him, turning to find a human wearing standard initiative gear now standing directly behind him.

"Those guys aren't so bad when you aren't the target" Harry reflected to himself as he brushed some moss from his hardsuit's shoulder pad. He paused as he heard a cocking of a pistol, slowly turning to stare down the gun barrel held against his faceplate by an angry looking turian. Movement in the corner of his eye revealed a dozen more of the bird men as they each followed their leader's example and trained their weapons on him. "Really?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at the implied threat. "I just help you drive off those bastards and this is the first thing you do? Hold a gun to my face? A fellow person from the Milky Way?"

"What you're doing" his captor ground out while pressing the gun against the faceplate, "is using a previously unknown method of transport to jump into the middle of an active firefight between the the Turian Hierarchy and a hostile group of aliens without identifying yourself before hand. That is a huge mistake that anyone with military training should know after just a day of training. If you're that inexperienced than you're nothing but a liability and I don't want you anywhere near my team!" he finished, stowing his gun and turning back to the downed turian from earlier.

Harry just stared at him for a moment, having seen the song and dance before from aurors who broke under pressure after the war with Voldemort. Society demanded that they be treated as victims that needed help but the wizard just couldn't bring himself to agree. He had been exposed to death since an early age and still managed to function in a somewhat functional way. Was it wrong of him to expect everyone else to carry their load if they wanted the same of him? Shaking his head, he raised his omnitool up and connected to his partner for this particular mission. "Sarissa? Hold off on the shuttle. It doesn't look like they need a rescue after all." He noticed that all activity around him had ceased, the turians not even pretending to act like they weren't eavesdropping on his conversation.

"What the hell happened Harry?!" came the asari's harried voice, disbelief clear for all to hear. "Are you serious? We just fought off a damn platoon of Roekaar for them!"

"I know" the wizard agreed, his voice laced in sympathy. "I was just told exactly how much it was appreciated after taking out ten of them myself and transporting in to see if they were doing ok." He turned on his heel, preparing to walk back into the tree line. "They seem to have their own transport to the Nexus secured so don't worry about it." The rest of the turians were now blatantly staring at Avitus, discipline stopping them from speaking out against their leader but their gaze all but demanding he swallow his pride.

The turian's talons clenched hard enough to draw blood where the cut into his skin. He desperately worked to bind his pride up tightly into a container and shove it back down deep inside of himself. His people needed help and he was willing to let their best chance at a rescue slip through his claws over a fight that he had started for no reason! This was not how Macen would have wanted him to act. "Wait!" he called out just as the human neared the treeline, intent on opening up a dialogue and salvaging the situation.

Harry's response was to simply lift up his fist and extend his middle finger without turning around. It was the universal human gesture known to all other species in the galaxy, blown up to almost epic proportions from the stories brought back by the turians who fought in the Relay 314 incident that had introduced the newest species to the galactic stage. "You made your bed" the wizard's voice carried out over the field, "now you can sleep in it." With that, turned in place before disappearing into thin air with a loud crack.

 **A/N: A little harsh, but asshole begets asshole, pride before the fall, and all that crap. Hope everyone enjoyed themselves however they celebrate this time of year. Enjoy New Years. If you have kids, Netflix has countdowns you can play to trick the little monsters into sleeping quicker. If you are free, then just remember it's liquor before beer and weed can be any time you feel like it.**

 **On a separate note, this would have been done yesterday if I hadn't discovered southpark studios and watched most of season 22 for free. The way they did Bezos and Amazon dirty was fucking epic. Speaking as a guy from western Washington, my heart goes out to the poor bastards who have to deal with HQ2. Buy property while you can.**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Should Have Read the Codex

Vitesia Camion, a proud turian member of the Initiative, braced herself as the barricade she was using for cover was targeting by another spirits damned alien with an RPG. Her flanges ground together as she rode out the shockwave from the explosion as it detonated mere meters away, the barrier doing nothing to protect her from the heat and noise of the blast. The attack against their base had resumed mere minutes after the strange human had left them. It was obvious now that the enemy scouts had reported back that the main threat had left the area, leaving the turians as easy pickings for the attackers.

She cast another look towards the forward position that her leader was using for shelter, frowning in disbelief that he had chased their rescue away. Every instinct in her screamed for her to speak up and challenge his position, pointing out that his duty to his people needed to take precedence over his own pride and fears. This was ruthlessly squashed back down by a lifetime of military training and societal expectations. In the end, he was her leader. It was her job to support him and make sure he had all the options available to make the best choice he was able to. All she had to do was follow it. Taking advantage of the lull in enemy fire, she threw a quick singularity into the treeline closest to her before lobbing a grenade a second later. The biotic detonation followed by screams of pain brought a small smile to her face.

Avitus Rix silently cursed to himself as he internalized his rage, focusing it and using it as further energy to keep fighting. It was one of the many skills that he had been taught by his mentor when he became a Spectre that he now questioned the validity of, due to said mentor's betrayal of everything he once held dear. The turian had found himself in a dark place after the news had been released, unsure if he even deserved to remain as a Council Spectre if he couldn't see such an event coming until after it had already happened. One of his best friends Macen Barro, had rescued him from his personal hell. Macen was to be the turian pathfinder for the Initiative and wouldn't accept anyone but his best friend for the backup position of his people's representative in the new galaxy.

Avitus had found a renewed purpose for his life as he prepared for this new responsibilities, thrilled beyond all belief all the way up to watching his friend go into cryo before climbing into his own pod and closing his eyes. When he opened them again, excitement and adventure had been replaced by fighting, death, and the unknown. Nothing had gone according to plan, let alone any of the contingencies that had been worked out by either the Initiative or the turians in their later private meetings before entering cryo. Avitus's first memories of Andromeda were staring through the window of his cryopod into an unknown jungle stretching as far as the eye could see, while an unknown purple moon glowed above him in the sky. The pod's self release system thankfully functioned correctly but that was the only good karma he had encountered for days afterwards.

The next week had been a desperate scramble for survival as he worked tirelessly to set up a temporary base in a box canyon, assembling a simple emergency transmitter while avoiding becoming a meal for the various predators that called the jungle home. Fifty Four turians had triangulated in on his signal, joining his effort to fortify their position and carve out a pocket of safety for themselves as they tried to establish what to do next. Unfortunately for him, there was no one else remotely close to surviving senior leadership. He was in charge by default with all roles and responsibilities thrust on him until he was relieved by the Pathfinder when they were rescued. That was his one hope. Protocol dictated that SAM was passed on to the backup Pathfinder upon death of the primary. Since there was no AI voice in the back of his head, he could only assume that Macen was still alive somewhere seeing to the safety of the rest of their people.

Hope had begun to dwindle as the week continued though. Food supplies were running low and rationing would only last so long without relief. In a desperate call, he decided to break radio discipline to broadcast a general distress call on all frequencies in the hope that either fellow Initiative members or unknown friendlies could render assistance. Then the attacks started. Their perimeter had been breached twice at night by unknowns, only to have them disappear again before contact could be established. Acting on instinct, Avitus had ordered a lockdown of the base. No scouting parties were allowed out and all positions were manned by turians with loaded weapons at all times. This proved fortuitous as the first attack had come at dawn. Their position had come under fire by unknown alien forces, the timing allowing the enemy to attack with the sun almost directly behind their backs as it crested the treeline and reducing visibility for the defenders. All attempts at communication were ignored as the fighting continued until midday when the attackers disappeared silently back into the jungle leaving five turians dead as well as a dozen of their own.

Two more similar battles had happened over the next few days, the attackers probing various parts of the defensive line in hopes of finding a weak point to attack before fading away after casualties began to mount. Avitus had begun to lose hope of rescue as time moved on. He was left to wonder if he would lose his people in battle, or watch them live long enough to wither away in hunger. He was at the point of snapping when a strange human appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the base directly after the most recent fire fight had ended. The way the human carried himself, as if nothing could ruin his day and this was just another normal occurrence was too much for the turian to take. Was it wrong for Avitus to point a gun at him and dress him down for his lack of discipline? Sure, on some level he supposed it was. Was it wrong for the turian to effectively throw him out of the base? Yes, that he would admit to, though it felt oh so good to do it.

Now he was facing the consequences of his actions though. They were under attack yet again from their enemies, and this time they didn't seem to be breaking no matter how many were killed. The defenders fought valiantly but were soon driven farther back into the base to take up new positions as the initial line had been trashed by explosives. Avitus remained behind to cover his people's retreat, firing for all he was worth and lobbing every grenade in his possession to make it seem like it was a fireteam in his position instead of a lone turian. Smiling in relief as Vetesia gave him the all clear signal, he slumped back against the remnants of his barrier as he listened to the approaching footsteps of the enemy as they investigated the abandoned positions. He exhaled loudly as four of them stepped around his cover, each leveling a gun in his direction.

The former spectre closed his eyes as he braced himself for the bullets, only to open them in surprise seconds later as he heard them impact but felt no pain. A golden dome of energy surrounded him, glowing as it was hit by dozens of rounds but letting none through. His body glowed blue as a biotic field formed around him before he was quickly pulled to the treeline. He tumbled to a halt at the feet of a serious looking asari as the human from before dropped his arms from the position next to her. The human raised his arm upwards, the appendage glowing white for a split second. Avitus's jaw dropped as the earth rose up from the ground in front of them before forming itself into a eight foot high wall that stretched itself between trees on either side of them before a blue arm filled his vision. He grasped the hand held infront of his face, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet by the asari before a shotgun was thrust into his talons. "Asari Pathfinder Sarissa Theris" she introduced herself before flinging a biotic push at the remaining aliens that were now trapped in no man's land between the entrenched turians and the treeline that he now controlled. "I want you to know that I was all for leaving you here to rot after your actions but Harry here" she gestured to the human who was now laying down a line of fire with his rifle, "wanted to give you a second chance." She held up her hand, interrupting his thanks before he could even start talking. "We can finish this discussion later. Can you coordinate with your team to coordinate fire as we remove the enemy's cover?"

He stared in confusion for a moment before the human gestured with his hand again towards the closest enemy. The debris it was taking cover behind flashed white for a moment before vanishing, leaving the confused aline sitting out in the open completely exposed. "Fire!" he shouted into his omnitool while quickly marking the target, unwilling to give up such a golden opportunity no matter how unexplained it was. Ten different guns stripped the alien's shielding within seconds before killing him outright. Its body shook from the bullet impacts before dropping like a puppet with its strings cut. The process was repeated a dozen times before there was a single alien left. It fired frantically in every direction as it tried desperately to avoid the fate of it's comrades. "We need one alive" Avitus murmured as he prepared himself for a charge across the open field to the enemy position. "We need intel to figure out the enemy's numbers and motivation or this will never end" he explained to the confused looks of the others as he cocked his shotgun.

"We already discovered that but if you really want to do this than let's be smart about it. Wait for a minute" the human ordered, causing him to bristle before he brought his emotions back under control. It was unreasonable for the human to know his position in the chain of command, not to mention that he had just saved Avitus's life moments before. The nonchalant way he carried himself just naturally rubbed the by-the-book turian the wrong way. A strange looking grenade was pressed into his talons, black and cylindrical with a giant red button on top of it. "It takes five seconds to go off" the human explained as he stowed his guns back onto the magnetic strips on his back. "Don't be next to it when it explodes." Avitus rolled his eyes at the obvious advice as he prepared to start his run. "I'll remove the cover and his shields. Give me a ten count before you start your attack." he instructed as he climbed to the top of the barrier as Avitus made his way to where it ended. Sarissa immediately opened fire to suppress the alien, something his team duplicated a second later as he explained the plan to them. "Go!" the human roared, causing him to surge forward. A blast of white light flew over his head and impacted with the pile of rubble before it disappeared. A second blast of light, this one yellow, screamed over his head before the alien disappeared in a explosion that sent it flying onto it's back. It began to crawl towards it's dropped gun as it's shields fell away, prompting him to press the red button. He counted to two before hurling the grenade and dropping to the ground as he covered his head and neck. The weapon landed and rolled into the side of the alien who ignored the impact as it finally reached it's weapon. It swing the weapon towards Avitus as it's finger began to squeeze the trigger when a dome of white light enveloped him before collapsing into itself and leaving a hole in the ground. Avitus slowly crept towards the hole, surprised to find the alien at the bottom of the newly made pit naked as the day it was born. He jumped into the pit and punched the bewildered attacker across the face with a closed fist. He felt a sick pleasure as something gave way and broke under his fist before the aline collapsed backwards unconscious. He threw the bod out of the pit before climbing up the side himself and waving to his men as they whooped in celebration while running towards him.

A throat clearing behind him showed his two saviors standing a few feet away, patiently waiting for the celebration to end. "So are you finally ready to talk now?" the human asked with a large smile on its face.

Avitus sighed as he motioned for them to head back towards the camp. It was time to eat some humble pie and he was not looking forward to it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The thirty surviving turians had barely managed to pack themselves inside of the Initiative heavy shuttle for the trip to the Nexus. The first part of the two day voyage simply revolved around the bird people eating their first full meals in days now that rationing had ceased. Almost all of them had finally succumbed to exhaustion afterwards, falling asleep sitting up or curled up on whatever portion of the floor that was available. Harry couldn't help but be amused that many of them chirped softly in their sleep. 'Must be their version of snoring' he had reflected to himself while making a mental note to see if it Vetra did it as well when he returned to the Tempest. 'They better not have taken over my tent' he thought with a scowl, remembering that both Sara and Vetra had begun to seem mighty comfortable in there right before he had left for the current mission.

Avitus had been the only one of his people to stay awake, through sheer force of will alone. He had commandeered the third seat in the cockpit, spending the following day and a half in deep discussion with his two rescuers as he was brought up to date with the status of the Initiative as well as what had happened to the rest of the members over the last year. The news was dire to say the least, but the last few weeks were showing promising results from his perspective. The arrival of the human and asari arks as well as the peaceful contact and fledgling alliance with the local Andromeda race of Angara gave him reason to believe there might still be a chance. The irony that he had been battling a rogue faction of their new allies while the rest of the Initiative was fighting for their lives against an invasive species known as the kett was not lost on him. He would need to step up and help refocus his people on what their true enemy was before problems could start when they arrived at the Nexus and found angara wandering around. "Thank you again for saving us" he said to the wizard, a concept that still sounded foreign to him after it had been explained. Humans had always been just one species to him before, no matter how different they may have looked. To learn that there was a subspecies previously unknown to the galaxy had been a real shock.

Said wizard waved away the thanks as he continued to watch the stars fly by at high velocity. The novelty of space flight still had not worn off on him yet, especially now that he was seeing actual celestial bodies instead of simple darkness that was on display on the Hyperion during the trans-galactic flight. "I would have done it for anyone in trouble" he assured the turian as he watched a particularly large blue star zoom past. "I can't imagine how bad it must have been for you guys to awake in hostile foreign territory with no warning like that." He offered a sheepish smile to the turian as he turned his chair towards the other occupant of the cockpit. "I'm sorry about the misunderstanding earlier" he apologized, pushing down his pride to quickly finish up before he wasn't able to. "I had no right to act the did, no matter how our interaction turned out. Apparently I'm still working through old prejudices that I had thought were long gone. Your people deserved better and we're all supposed to look out for each other here."

"Let's just say that mistakes were made on both sides and call it even. You're aren't the only one dealing with ghosts from the past..." the turian trailed off before extending his hand towards the human. "How about we start over? I'm Avitus Rix, Avi to my friends."

"Harry Potter" the wizard said as he took the offered hand and shook it. "Feel free to call me Harry though. You've earned it after that mad dash you did at the end of the last battle" he said with a grin.

"Thanks Harry" the turian said as he leaned back in his own chair, now able to look back on the past with a little bit of humor seeing as the danger had past. "I've never heard of a grenade that leaves the enemy naked before today" he observed as he remembered the prisoner that had been turned over to the human Pathfinder's team before they had left the planet.

"You'd be surprised what wizards can do when we don't allow ourselves to be restricted by normal things like physics and common sense" the wizard joked as he turned back towards the stars. "Our biggest barrier usually turns out to be imagination. Innovation becomes stagnant when you can just use magic to find a solution for most problems. It's great in the short term but stifles long term development when there is less of a need for change. My people were still somewhere in between the steam age and industrialization when I left the planet, with no signs of breaking out of it anytime soon." He sighed at the memories better left forgotten before perking back up as he thought about all that he had accomplished since then. "Speaking of which, if you have an idea then feel free to ask. I don't plan on being the fix all for every little thing wrong with the Initiative but I've come to realize it's damn selfish of me not to step up when there is an obvious way I can improve something if people are suffering."

"I'll keep that in mind." the turian assured him, relieved to know about yet another resource that might aid his people.

His attention was drawn to blue member of the cockpit as she came out of her meditative trance as her omnitool beeped. "I was talking with SAM" she explained, tapping her omnitool and bringing up a holographic image of the helius cluster for the others to see. "The krogan on Elaaden have been playing nice ever since Jien began to reopen dialogue with them. They forwarded over the telemetry data from a set of crashed escape pods from Ark Natanus that they found on patrol. I'm sorry but there weren't any survivors" she said to Avitus, stopping any further questions. A Initiative logo appeared over the previously mentioned planet. "I had SAM download the data from a few of your escape pods as well when we were loading up the shuttle and scuttling the equipment on Havarl" she added, another symbol appearing over the jungle planet on the map. "Yesterday, the angara reported to come across a crashed Initiative shuttle in the scourge. The navigational data put it's last position here…" a third Initiative symbol appeared towards the center of the cluster. "Now connecting the positions and calculating the trajectory shows the Ark's most likely heading will take it here" she indicated the northwest portion of the cluster which now was highlighted in a soft red with the flight path fading out as it went farther and farther into the unexplored area.

"Spirits…" Avitus whispered before activating his own omnitool. "I think I know where the Ark is." He tapped his omnitool with a talon before pointing it at the map, a new solar system near the edge of the cluster became highlighted with the Initiative logo. "H-047c was the turian golden world. Our orders were to dock with the Nexus upon our arrival to Andromeda so I don't know why the Ark is out there, but it's the only point of interest in the area. That's where I'm heading once we off load my people at the Nexus."

"You're not going alone" the wizard promised, beating his asari teammate by fractions of a second. He continued on, ignoring her frown at being spoken for. "We helped save you back on that jungle planet. We're not about to abandon you now."

"What he said" the asari agreed, while discreetly kicking her human companion in the ankle. "We can go scout the area and call in to the Nexus with for backup if we get lucky. I have a one hundred percent success rating on Ark rescues at the moment and I don't want to ruin my winning streak."

"That's easy for you to say" Harry observed drolly, cutting his eyes at the preening asari. "Come talk to me after you save more than one of them. I'm two for two right now."

"Quiet Magic Man, I'm on a roll right now" Sarissa stood up from her chair, stretching for a moment before turning around and planting herself in the wizard's lap. She ignored the grunt from beneath her, choosing to take it as a sign of appreciation for her curves instead of a comment on her weight. She threw her feet up on her old chair, leaning back into her new Harry cushion and achieving a new level of relaxation as she regarded the turian. "We'll be heading back out a few hours after docking with the Nexus to resupply and transfer your people. Should we consider you a member of the team at least until the Ark is recovered?"

"Just try and keep me away" Avitus said, before ignoring the scene in front of him in favor of the view port that was rapidly filling with the approaching Initiative space station. 'It's no Citadel' he reflected to himself, thinking back to his days as a spectre. 'But I have to admit, it's pretty damn impressive in its own way. And no matter what, it's home now.'

Behind them, one more set of eyes lay open, watching their approach. There was a lot to process after listening to the conversation just now and decisions to be made.

XXXXXX

Avitus slowly followed the Asari Pathfinder and the wizard as they slowly walked through the commons area of the Nexus, his head on a constant swivel as he tried to take in as many of the sights as possible while cataloging the different locations that might be possible locations for ambushes. 'Guess it never really goes away' he thought ruefully as he mentally worked to suppress the spectre paranoia. It was a challenge to do so as he watched the various angara wander the station, inspecting everything they could see as they learned about their galactic neighbors. Shifting his training to categorize them as friend instead of foe would take time after the hellish time in the jungle.

He was drawn from his thoughts as he watched the asari grab the wizard by the elbow, pulling him towards a set of doors that bordered the hydroponics garden. Curious, he followed them. The base music that seemed to vibrate his very exoskeleton quickly revealing the purpose of the location before the doors even opened to reveal the bar and dance floor. Dozens of people crowded the floor, bodies packed together as they gyrated to the techno beat, desperately attempting to relieve themselves of the stress built up in the fight for survival. He was surprised when a metal cup was shoved into his talons by his magical crewmate, the liquid inside glowing a soft blue of dextro-alcohol. He took a pull of it, surprised at the smoothness of it before following Harry to a large table in the back where Sarissa already sat with the leadership of the Nexus that he had been briefed on. Jien Garson quickly stood up and shook his hand before inviting him to take a seat between Sarissa and Kandros, the sight of his fellow turian helping to assure him that discipline and control were still maintained.

Harry took out a stick from what appeared to be thin air, before waving it in a circle while murmuring in a low voice. Avitus was thrilled as he felt the base music drop off before fully disappearing, a sigh from next to him confirming that Kandros was in agreement. "Sound dampening field is up" Harry explained to the table, gesturing to the rest of the room who ignored the meeting as they continued to party. "Is there a reason you asked me to do this instead of just using your conference room?" he asked the Nexus leader with a raised eyebrow.

"I needed a break and this place had alcohol" Jien explained before taking a deep chug from her own cup as if that was the only real concern. "Now let's get on with the briefing underway. What did you find on Havarl?"

Harry and Sarissa proceeded to give a brief overview of their rumble in the jungle before the attention was turned to Avitus as he was encouraged to tell his tale of survival since arriving in Andromeda. He was congratulated by everyone at the table for his tenacity and for pulling the survivors together, but found himself a little underwhelmed by the Initiative leadership as they began to celebrate. Feeling eyes on him, he scanned the table before noticing his new wizard friend watching him closely. The human discretely waved his hand, causing the bubble of silence to collapse as the music washed over the table. The rest of the group took that as a sign for the meeting to end, proceeding towards the dance floor. Avitus skirted the edge of the room before making his way out of the club and back into the larger common area.

He spotted the wizard in the distance, pushing through the crowd to the isolated location to join his friend. He leaned on the rail bordering the edge of the platform, watching the activity as people moved about the rest of the ward that stretched off into the distance. "I used to do this exact same thing on the Presidium back on the Citadel after coming back from a tough mission. I'd find a perfect spot and just watch as people went about their lives, completely unaware of the things we'd sacrifice for them on a daily basis." He looked over at the wizard who was silently observing the crowd, content to let the turian continue his monologue without interruption. "They won't take offense that I didn't stick around for the party will they? It just doesn't seem like a time for that when our people are still missing and our survival is still in jeopardy."

Harry snorted, shaking his head with a sad smile as he looked back towards where the club was. The bass from the music could still be heard over the industrial equipment all the way over where they stood. "They're too busy cutting loose to care. I understand how you feel, but try to understand it from their perspective. You've been awake for a few weeks, but they've spent over a year in near total despair with no hope for the future and everything coming apart around them. When it gets that bad, any good news is worth celebrating. They haven't forgotten about the ones still missing, I promise." The wizard glanced towards the docking bay before nodding towards it with his head. "You ready to go back to the shuttle? We can get the preflight checklist finished by the time the rest of our team get back in an hour."

The turian followed after his team mate, glad to have a direction in life again. "Who else is on the team besides the asari?" he questioned as they walked along. "I don't remember Ms Garson assigning anyone else to us."

"She didn't" the wizard replied as the door to the shuttle bay opened, revealing a team of engineers lead by a large krogan female working to stack a large pile of hull plating near the shuttle bay. "I called in a few favors." He turned to the stack of plating, pulling out his wand and casting a shrinking spell. He pocketed the item, now the size of a deck of cards, while expertly ignoring the gaping turian standing beside him. Hearing about magic was one thing but seeing it was another.

"This better be worth it husband" Kesh growled, stamping up to the wizard before possessive throwing an arm around his waist to pull him closer.

"Husband?" the turian silently mouthed in disbelief before turning a questioning gaze towards the other engineers. The only answers he got were a few shrugs and a quick shake of his head from an asari. Speaking of asari… he could have sworn that Harry and Sarissa were interested in each other from their actions back on the shuttle. What was going on?

"I don't know if it'll even be necessary Kesh" her 'husband' calmly explained while expertly maneuvering himself out of her grip. "All I know is that both of the other Arks were torn up by the scourge when they first hit Andromeda. It's a good chance that Ark Natanus won't be in any better shape. The _repairo_ spell won't work nearly as well if the broken ship parts aren't around to be used and I'm not flying half way across the galaxy to try to find them in the middle of a dark matter storm."

The krogan growled before walking over to the shuttle. "I'm coming too" she said, her tone not allowing room for argument. Her team traded looks between them before all six walked over to stand next to her as well. "There's no way just the three of you will be able to operate an Ark, and I don't trust your magic with the electronic repairs." She ignored his protests as she made her way into the shuttle followed by the rest of his team.

"You married a krogan!?" Avitus tried, but couldn't hold it in any longer the moment she was out of earshot.

"I didn't marry anyone" the wizard exclaimed, fearfully glancing over his shoulder at the shuttle incase he was overheard. "She _claimed_ me once she saw what my magic could do and I wasn't asked for my opinion. She's a good friend so I don't have a reason to be rude to her about it."

Avitus blew out a sigh of relief, his body posture loosening at the explanation. "Thank the spirits. I have nothing against a krogan, even if I would never choose to mate with one. You may not have picked up on it yet, but Sarissa has all but stated her interest in bonding with you. I don't think she would take it too well if you had actually been claimed by someone else. The last thing anyone wants is a vengeful asari huntress after them." He shuddered at past memories from his time in the Milky Way.

"You ain't seen nothing yet" the wizard observed in sotto voce before pulling a pouch out of his neck and rummaging through it. The turian watched in barely disguised interest as the human's arm disappeared into the small sack all the way up to his elbow even though he barely should have been able fit his hand into it. With a small grunt of triumph, Harry pulled out an item before tossing it to the surprised turian who fumbled with it before bringing it into his chest. "Think of it as a small 'Welcome to the Galaxy" gift" the wizard explained.

"It's dextro chocolate…" the turian said in a confused voice as he looked at the gift. "Males don't give things like this to each other. We usually exchange things like weapons or entertainment vids. This is something used for courting females when it's time to find a mate." He looked sideways at the human, subtly taking a step or two away to build some distance. Had he read the wizard's previous overtures of friendship as something different than their intentions?

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Harry stared at the turian in confusion, unsettled by the birdman's comments. "It's food. If you don't want to eat it then just save it for when you might need it. I gave one to a turian on the crew I was with before I helped save you. She told me about how valuable they are here since you can't have them made anymore now that we're in a new galaxy." He paused, mentally reviewing the turian's observations before a certain line struck out at him. "What the hell do you mean giving food to a female turian means you're courting them?"

Avitus grinned at the human as he pocketed the candy in his hardsuit. "Didn't you read anything on the codex about the turians culture and social practices? It's one of those things that's been a practice since before recorded history. Males prove our strength and resourcefulness to females to appear attractive to them. Then the females will choose whoever they feel will best provide for them and their future family." He stopped talking as he watched the wizard repeatedly bang his head against the wall next to him, before something the wizard had mentioned came back to him. "A female turian explained it's value to you… you gave one of these to her didn't you?" he exclaimed with a grin. "I bet you she's not left you alone since then hasn't she?"

"You have no idea" the human mumbled, thinking back to his first meeting with Vetra. "Wait… how bad is it if I gave one each to a pair of turian sisters? And how do I get them to stop thinking that I'm trying to attract a mate?"

"You don't" his turian companion calmly explained, suppressing his jealousy at the human's audacity. A common fantasy among most turian males was to be able to land a pair of sisters, and this primate had stumbled into it without even meaning to! "You already did your part of the process whether you meant to or not. Now it's up to them to decide if you're worth it." He punched the wizard in the shoulder before turning towards the shuttle. "I don't know whether to be happy or jealous for you, so I'll just go with both for now."

Avitus paused as he entered the shuttle, finding himself staring back at thirty turians who stood silently as they waited for the shuttle to take off. Vitesia, his lieutenant from their time on Havarl, stepped forward from the crowd and gave off a crisp salute. "All team members present and accounted for Avitus." The rest of the turians behind her came to attention as well, before offering up their own salute. "We're all ready to save our people."

Avitus blinked heavily, doing his best to suppress his emotions as he gazed upon his fellow survivors. The fact that each and every one of them chose to stay and help after what they had experienced was impressive, even for the fabled turian resilience and discipline.

His command speech was interrupted before he could even start as a hand roughly shoved him past the shuttle door. "Enough of this sappyness" Sarissa grumbled as she stepped into the ship while pulling the wizard in after herself. "We appreciate everyone coming along to help. Let's get this show on the road." She pulled Harry past a growling Kesh, before depositing him into the copilot seat as she began the takeoff sequence. Avitus taking the third seat as they began to lift off, the shuttle racing back out into the vastness of space. It was time to recover an Ark.

 **A/N: Sorry about the delay on this. I'm actually attempting to go back and replay the game to try and make sure I'm not missing any major plot events. Hope 2019 is going well for everyone so far. I already failed my New Year's resolution spectacularly. Told myself I was going to eat healthier, then my car broke down right in front of a Krispy Kreme. It was a sign from God!**


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Sharing is Caring

"A wizard is never early or late. He always arrives precisely when he means to" Gandalf the Grey stated popously as he brought himself up to his full height while pompously gazing at the hobbit that had confronted him at the entrance to the Shire. They stared at each other in mock seriousness as the seconds ticked by before Frodo broke character first. The hobbit's smile slowly creeped up his face, soon matched by his wizarding friend before both of them embraced in joy.

"Bullshit…" Harry muttered under his breath, reminded a little too much of his old headmaster to be able to fully enjoy the scene. The thought that any of the magical species would get along enough to hug with the centuries of bad blood between them was enough to make him laugh. His internal pity party was ended abruptly by a light smack to the head by a blue hand, attached to the asari Pathfinder who was making a 'shushing' gesture to him before turning back to the main view screen. The shuttle was absolutely filled with turians, each sitting on the floor in rows as their eyes remained glued to the movie playing on the display.

The five day voyage was absolutely torturous when there was barely enough elbow room. Strained tempers had reached the boiling point by the second day, almost resulting in fights but for the lack of room for anything but a quick punch or heatbut to be thrown. Sarissa had quickly purposed playing movies to keep everyone entertained, an idea Avitus wholeheartedly agreed with as he desperately tried to calm down the crew. _Fleet and Flotilla_ was quickly requested by the birdmen, followed by _Blasto 5_. "Enkindle this!" had echoed through the shuttle, accompanied by dozens of cheers, as the overgrown jellyfish turned spectre proceeded to single handedly blow away over a hundred krogan who had attempted to take over the citadel. Kesh grunted unhappily from her spot next to him as they sat against the back wall of the shuttle. "I can't tell you how annoying it is to always have my people play the bad guys in vids" she said quietly, her brow furrowed as the krogan battlemaster moved in to fight Blasto. "Just once, I'd like for them to be the hero."

Sarissa had opened up her personal media library and conferred with the asari on Kesh's crew before putting on a few of their favorite movies. Harry had come to a startling realization by the end of the third asari film, they were **all** romance movies! Horror film? Sure, as long as you didn't mind the romance developing between the asari heroine and the mass murderer. Buddy cop film? They had that too, with the two partners falling in love despite the taboo for asari to date each other. There even was a film about the rachni war based on a huntress who had developed feelings for two of the krogan she had lead into battle and had to choose which one to save. Needless to say, the blue women were in tears as they watched. Sarissa took advantage of the moment to cling to Harry's arm after discovering that the wizard had a hard time saying 'No' to a crying female.

The only other human from Kesh's team had broken out his collection afterwards, starting with the Jurassic Park trilogy. The occupants of the room had sat stunned as they watched the ultimate battle of 'man vs nature.' The man was quickly requested to supply more, prompting him to bring up the Hobbit, followed by the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The sole wizard on the ship was bombarded for the rest of the day with questions about the species on the show and if his magic was like that of Gandalf's. It grew so bad that Harry had volunteered for lookout duty to escape the curious aliens, taking over the pilot chair to monitor the instruments that made sure they wouldn't blunder into the scourge accidently on their trip.

A blinking red light pulled him from his daydreaming, prompting him to bring up their flight plan as it updated itself. Excitement washed over him as he quickly deactivated the media system while turning back on the overhead lights, much to the ire of the other occupants. He raised his hands above his head, calling for silence. As the muttering died down, he uttered two simple words that everyone had been waiting to hear. "We're here!" A loud cheer rang through the cramped space as the crew climbed to their feet, quickly checking equipment as they prepared for the next step.

Sarissa and Avitus quickly took possession of the two open chairs next to the wizard, the asari taking over flight controls as they dropped out of FTL and got their first look at the new turian home system. "By the spirits…" came a gasp from one of the crew behind them, the exclamation soon echoed by multiple voices as they stared in horror at where the planet should have been. Harry hadn't expected a garden world after his previous experiences in the Helius cluster. Habitat 7 had been storm ravaged, Eos had been a radiation bathed desert, and Voeld had tried it's best to freeze his bollocks off with it's ice age. None of this prepared him for what he was now staring at though. H-047 was shattered. A third of the planet still remained in one piece, though it was shaped more like Omega back in the Milky Way instead of the normal sphere it should have been. The rest of the smaller debris was already starting to spread out, a new asteroid belt slowly forming as the planetoid no longer had the gravity necessary to pull in the surrounding space rocks to its mass.

The wizard was brought out of his shock as a metallic glint could be seen farther into the solar system, the reflected sunlight barely strong enough to reach them. "Avi.. Avi!" He punched the turian hard in the shoulder to bring him back to the here and now. "Do you think that's the Ark?" he asked as he pointed towards the distant object.

"I can't tell from here" the former spectre said as he squinted at the new target. "No better time to find out though. Can you take us there?" he asked Sarissa as the asari scanned the shattered planet with the shuttle's sensors. She wordlessly turned them towards the object before engaging the engines, not trusting her voice at the moment as she tried to overcome her shock at the broken planetoid.

"Yes… YES… YES!" Avitus pounded on the seat in excitement as the familiar shape of an Initiative Ark began to resolve itself as they came closer to it. "We found it!" he called over his shoulder, prompting a subdued cheer from the turians. The view ports were soon packed with faces pressed up against them, turians shoving each other for a chance to view their people's ship.

"You called it husband" Kesh muttered as she leaned over his chair, her eyes narrowing as she took in the battered ship. "It's barely holding itself together. I have no idea how it managed to make it all the way out here without tearing to pieces." Large gouges littered the hull, exposing decks below to hard vacuum. Internal blast doors were the only thing preventing the rest of the atmosphere from venting into space.

Sarissa pulled the shuttle up to the Ark's main docking bay before placing the controls in standby and rising to her feet. "Scan's show at least fourteen thousand lifesigns remaining on the Ark at this time. Avitus" she addressed the turian leader, prompting him to stand with her a the front of the ship. "You're the lead turian and it's your people's Ark. This is your show. Tell us what you need and we'll make it happen."

Avitus gulped as he felt every pair of eyes settle on him, everyone silent as they awaited his orders. 'For Macen' he told himself before straightening his spine and clasping his talons behind his back. "Teams of five will follow the pre approved paths to their destinations and check the status of the critical systems. Be sure to document all damage along the route, but leave it alone if possible until we can ascertain the ship's status." He waited for acknowledgement from each of the team leaders before continuing the briefing. "Kesh's engineering team will be on standby for now, but will respond to critical repairs as they are reported. I'll leave the priorities in your expert hands" he said to the krogan, getting a grunt of approval from her for the recognition of her position and skills. "Sarissa, Vitesa, and myself will work our way towards the bridge and SAM node to try to find out who is in charge and what their status is. Contact us immediately if you find any of the bridge crew or Pathfinder Barro." He turned towards Harry, watching as the wizard put on his helmet and sealed his suit. "Are you sure you don't want anyone accompanying you? You'll be in possibly the most dangerous position of all of us."

"Don't worry" The wizard assured him, patting the turian on the back as he walked towards one of the view ports that faced the hull. "This isn't my first rodeo. I'll start with the obvious stuff that we identified as we flew in. Someone will either need to get the SAM node to tell me the ship's condition more thoroughly or fly the shuttle to do a manual scan if you want me to fix the small stuff though. This is a hell of a long walk as it is without playing explorer on top of it."

Avitus nodded, filling the information away in his head for after he made contact with SAM. "Then that's everything. Questions?" He was met with silence as everyone remained quiet, awaiting the next order with baited breath. "Let's go save our people!" he ordered, slamming his fist on the door lock controls. The airlock rolled ponderously to the side, revealing a dark hall barely lit with flickering emergency lighting. The turians formed up, marching forward in teams as they disappeared into the darkness.

Avitus turned towards the wizard who was watching the procession from his spot to the side. "How are you going to get outside? I can fly you ov…" Harry spun in place before disappearing with a loud crack that echoed around the cabin. He could be seen standing on the hull through the viewport window, waving back at them for a moment before starting his trek towards the closest hull breach. "I forgot he could do that…" the turian observed, impressed despite already knowing some of what the wizard was capable of.

"I haven't" Kesh grumbled under her breath as she led her team into the ship.

XXXXX

Harry whistled to himself as he strolled along the hull, happy to be back in semi-familiar territory as he stopped at the edge of a large gash in the ship. He reached into one of his hardsuit pockets, pulling out a deck of playing cards. Using his thumb, he pushed the first two cards out of the deck and nugged them slowly towards the ship's wound before casting a _finite_. Two large deck plates now slowly circled in space before a _repario_ pulled them to the hull, encouraging them to spread out and close the gap.

Harry frowned in thought as he began his trek towards the next target, staring at his palm while he walked. Repeated casting of a spell acted almost like magical muscle memory, making it require less wand motions or spoken word to direct the magic to perform as he intended. His approach before now had been to simply overpower the _reparo_ spell, the extra energy making up for the lack of wand or verbal cast, with the remnant jewel in his palm helping to amplify the effect. His way of telling how powerful the spell was cast was simply by how drained his magic felt afterwards, each spell taking at least a little bit from his internal magical energy since he had no planetary ambient magic to draw from. So how was it that he was only just now noticing his magic starting to diminish after repairing over a third of the ship already?

Arriving at the next hole in the Ark, the wizard pocketed his playing cards. Raising his palm, he cast the standard fix-it spell with a little extra power to make up for the lack of available resources. The metal quickly began to knit itself back together, significantly faster than he remembered ever seeing happen on either the Hyperion or Leusina. 'I need to look into this' the wizard thought, sitting down cross legged on the hull and casting a sticking charm on himself for safety.

Shutting his eyes, he turned his mind inwards. Grasping onto a strand of magic, he followed it's route back to where it originated in his core. Wizards always used different comparisons when attempting to describing how they perceived their magical core. Hagrid had once described his as a boulder, firm and unmovable, which possibly reflected on his half giant heritage that used their magic to amplify their already naturally thick skin to be magically resistant. Professor McGonagall had compared her core to that of a large jungle cat, calm and confident but ready to react with power and violence just like her feline animagus.

A wave of force was the first thing Harry perceived as he entered where his core was contained. It was like a giant glowing white ball hovering in the center of the chamber. It pulsed at a steady interval, almost like a heartbeat as it let off waves of magic that washed over him as they passed by. At first glance, Harry couldn't see any major difference from his last self examination besides the size and intensity increasing. Closer inspection revealed a half dozen, small, purple balls of light that orbited around his core in random paths. Each time the wave from his core washed over one of the purple balls, the magic was visibly intensified before it continued on it's trajectory. They were obviously foreign, yet gave off a familiarity that drew him closer. 'What the bloody fuck are those?' Harry thought, slowly reaching for the nearest one. His fingers almost brushed it as it flew by, causing him to impatiently wait for it's orbit to come around his core again. The wizard stretched his fingers towards the purple sphere, almost….

"HARRY!" Said wizard's head shot up as he felt his shoulder get roughly shaken, his vision suddenly filled with a frantic turian's visage behind his own helmet. "Oh thank the spirits! What the hell is your problem you damn primate? Were you taking a nap or just deciding to not answering your comms?"

Harry cancelled the sticking charm and pushed himself to his feet, wavering to the side as he tried to regain his equilibrium from a such a sudden position change in zero g. "Sorry Avitus. Sorry…" He shook his head to clear the cobwebs from coming out of the trance so abruptly. "My magic was acting strange. I had to take a moment to check on it. Everything looks good though, so I'll get back to it. What'd I miss?"

"It's been an hour since we lost contact with you Harry" the turian huffed in exasperation as he turned away to look out into space in an attempt to calm himself. "We found the bridge partially destroyed, but Kesh and her team have assured me they can get it up and running again in the next cycle. Sarissa and Vitesia are back on the shuttle to report our status to the Nexus. The rest of the teams are reporting heavy damage to most of the ship but it'll fly again if you and Kesh can hold true to your promises…" Avitus trailed off, running out of things to update besides the one subject that he was mentally avoiding thinking about. "Macen's dead." He took a deep breath, unable to suppress the shudder that ran through his body.

"How?" was the only word spoken by Harry. The wizard had never met Macen in real life, but had already started to build up an image of what the turian must have been like from the various times Avitus had described him. To find out that the turian Pathfinder hadn't survived after all affected the human more than he had expected it to.

His turian companion turned away, attempting to compose himself before answering. "All we found were recordings taken by SAM. His body isn't even there any more!" He slammed a fist into the side of the hull, the pain barely even registering. "SAM had to blow the atmosphere to try and suppress a fire in the cryo bay. As near as I can tell, he took shrapnel in his chest from an explosion after waking up when the Natanus hit the scourge upon entering Helius. His last act was to make it to my group of cryopods and set us to abandon ship before the fire reached us…"

He closed his eyes, almost able to picture Macen's last moments as if he was standing there instead of asleep in his cryopod. "SAM was damaged when Macen died before he could transfer it to me. It decided to upload itself to me while I was in proximity but I can barely tell what it's trying to tell me." He tapped the side of his helmet with his talon, indicating the AI's new home. "All I'm getting are disjointed images and phrases. It's how I know what happened to Macen. I watched his last moments from SAM's perspective played over and over in my head for half an hour before it figured I'd seen enough. I just feel like there is something I should have been able to do to save him..." he trailed off, unable to express the thought fully.

He watched out of the corner of his eye as Harry stood up, slowly making his way over to stand next to the turian and take in the view of the shattered planet off in the distance. "When I was just a teenager" the wizard said, "my godfather died in a battle while protecting me from dark wizards who wanted to kill me." Avitus turned towards him in surprise, able to see the human's skin turn pale as he recalled the memory. "He took a spell to the chest that sent him falling through a death gate that killed him instantly. It happened right in front of me, just a few feet away. Yet there was nothing I could have done to change it."

He looked over a the turian "I blamed myself for months afterwards. It was my fault he was there and my fault that I wasn't good enough to save him. It took a friend sitting me down and explaining that it was my godfather's choice to fight and he would gladly have given his life if it meant that I could keep mine. That's what love really is. When you care about another person so much that you are able to sacrifice your own happiness for thiers. I know Sirius would never want me to spend my life moping around so I try to remember the good times with him and all the fun we used to have together doing pranks."

Avitus smiled fondly as he attempted to try and remember the good times he had with his friend. "I used to hate going out to bars with Macen when our duty was over for the day back in the military. He could have been dressed in a sack while I had on my best uniform, but all of the girls would flock to him and ignore me. I seriously began to resent him for it until he took me aside and explained that he wasn't interested in any of them. Apparently the only one he had eyes for was… me." He stopped as he heard Harry snort in laughter, the wizard gesturing for him to carry on while his shoulders shook with silent laughter. "Laugh it up monkey. You have no idea how terrible it was when the only person physically attracted to you had the same 'weapon set' that you did. We eventually talked it out, but I don't think his feelings ever really died off all the way. He was my best friend until the very end."

"Well at least I know why you panicked so badly when I gave you that chocolate bar earlier" Harry observed with a grin on his face. "You really thought I was trying to court you, didn't you?"

Avitus nodded warily, recalling the incident back on the Nexus. "All I could think was 'Oh Spirits no... it's happening all over again!'" His hand flew up, catching an object in his gloves that had been hurtling at his helmet. Making sure that there wasn't anything else on it's way, he glanced down at the object finding another bar of turian chocolate. His head shot up, only to find the wizard power walking in the opposite direction as fast as he could across the hull.

"You may be the Pathfinder, but you'll always be the bitch in our relationship Avi!" the wizard called over his shoulder with a cackle. A snarl over the radio indicated that his turian friend was in hot pursuit, just as he had planned. Nothing like a good prank to get someone over what was making them sad.

The wizard chuckled to himself as he raced past the main antenna mast before slowing to a stop as he stared off into the asteroid belt that bordered the Ark. A weight slammed into his back as Avitus finally caught up before he was slapped upside the helmet. "Who's the bitch now human?" the turian gloated as he stood up straight before noticed that the wizard wasn't even paying attention. "What do you see Harry?" he questioned as he tried to see what had caught the human's eye.

"That's not one of ours" Harry responded with mounting dread, as he pointed towards a large asteroid that was slowly spinning in the distance.

Avitus squinted at the indicated asteroid before the front of a kett ship slowly drifted into view before it was eclipsed by the space rock again. "Fuck!" he turned around, immediately making his way back towards the shuttle. His mind was racing a mile a minute as he considered the position his team was currently stuck in on the disabled Ark. "Harry. You can do that disappear/reappear thing from here to that asteroid right? It's only a couple hundred miles away…" he trailed off at the deadpan look the human was giving him. "That too far or something?"

"How the hell should I know?" the wizard groused as he stared at the asteroid looming in the distance. "The farthest I ever did was across the English Channel back when I was a teenager. Why the hell would I apparate over there anyways? That's an entire ship full of bad guys and I'm just one wizard."

"Exactly!" the turian exclaimed excitedly, the plan falling together in his mind as he began to lay it out on his omnitool. "They won't know how to fight your magic. That's a kett scout ship from what I've learned from Initiative records. We need to take them out before they consider us enough of a threat to call in more ships! You head over now and start using your unique brand of skills to distract them while Sarissa, Vitesia, and I make our way over in the shuttle on the dark side of the asteroid to mask our signature. We'll back you up as soon as we can get there. I'll tell the others to speed up the repairs in the meantime incase they already called in our position."

"Son of a…" Harry hung his head in defeat. There wasn't a choice for the wizard. Over fourteen thousand lives depended on him. "Fine!" he called at the turian's retreating back before tensing himself for the longest apparition he had ever heard of. "If I get stuck part way there, you guys better come get me!" He turned in place before disappearing, the deafening crack lost in the vacuum of space.

Harry slowly opened his eyes, momentarily disoriented as he slowly spun on all three plains. The Ark slowly drifted into his view in the distance, now barely the size of his thumb. 'Not bad' Harry preened to himself as the continued rotation brought the much closer asteroid into view . He had made it almost half the distance in one jump with barely any drain to his core. "One more time" the wizard mumbled to himself, twisting his body to begin the apparition process only to realize he had no surface to turn on. The wizard slowly floated in place, flummoxed at what to do next. His next rotation to the Ark revealed one of the remaining holes in the ship's hull by the engines. A brain wave struck the wizard as he made a mental note to finish the ship's repairs as soon as possible. Pulling out the deck of cards from his pocket, Harry released a single card into space before transfiguring it back into a ship hull plate. Activating his magnets on his boots, he slowly moved towards the plate before sticking to the surface with his feet. Turning towards the asteroid again, Harry spun in place on more time before disappearing and reappearing on the space rock's surface.

The wizard craned his head upwards, the kett ship now orbiting only a few miles above him as it tried to hide its presence behind the asteroid. _Aguamenti_ spells from his palms soon had him breaking the asteroid's minimal gravity and on a path for the front of the kett ship. Redirecting the spell at the last second, Harry slowled himself down enough to land near the front of the ship with a soft thump. He remained motionless for a minute, holding his breath as he waited to see if his presence had been detected. When no kett came out to confront him, he began his trek towards the front of the ship. He cast a quick cutting spell at what looked like an antenna, all sorts of expensive looking equipment now rendered useless as it slowly floated off into space.

Finding what he was looking for, the wizard dropped to his belly. He inched forward until he was able to look through the top corner of viewport to the bridge, taking a moment to observe a dozen of kett as they worked furiously to discover what was going wrong with their ship. 'Might as well say hi' he reflected as he pulled a vanishing grenade from his hardsuit. Standing up, he boldly walked out over the deck wide view port until he was standing directly in the center of it. He patiently waited as one-by-one the kett broke off of their work to stare speechlessly at the human brazenly standing outside of their ship. Harry gave them a quick wave before casting a sticking charm on the grenade and pressing the big red button. He made a show of placing it on the view port before deactivating his boots and kicking off of the ship to get some distance. 'Three… Two…' He couldn't help but grin as a white dome engulfed the front of the ship before collapsing into itself. The atmosphere of the bridge now explosively decompressed outwards, taking the kett with it as they were hurled out into space.

A quick water jet sent him into the now empty bridge before a quick _reparo_ had the view port whole once again. 'Now what do I do?' the wizard thought to himself as he looked at the different screens, the alien language making it impossible to tell what their purposes were. He felt the floor shudder underneath him followed soon after by a loud alarm that echoed across the ship.

"Harry?" Sarissa's harried voice could be heard over the comm, the sound of gunfire audible in the background. "We've breached the cargo bay. What's your status?"

"I have the bridge" was his simple reply. He took a moment to cast a quick locking charm on the rooms door, followed up with an unbreakable charm. It wasn't a moment too soon as he heard pounding start on the other side. "Where do you need me?" he asked, feeling useless just standing around while they were fighting.

"Stay right where you are!" Avitus cut in, excitement clear in his voice. "We already cleared the engine room and are making our way up the decks. If you can keep them out then we'll trap them in a pincer attack and end this!"

Harry sighed in boredom, lowering himself into the captain's chair. "Sounds good to me" he confirmed before using his feet to get the chair spinning in a circle as he watched the room slowly rotate around him. He put his feet down, stopping the rotation as he noticed how silent it had gotten. The pounding had stopped. The wizard slowly rose to his feet, pulling out his pistol as an electrical field seemed to flow through the door, making his spells collapse. The holographic indicator on the door flashed green before it slid open. A kett ascendant as it calmly floated onto the bridge, his body wrapped in a protective sphere of bioelectricity. The door closed swiftly behind him, indicating his sense of superiority that he would not require assistance to handle the intruder.

Harry took offense to this, unleashing an overpowered bombarda that utterly destroyed the electromagnetic field and dropped the alien to his ass on the deck. Being at command level, the kett had the wherewithal to realize that a human pointing a heavy pistol at him was a bad thing. It quickly rolled to the right and took cover behind a station, catching a round in it's shoulder on the way.

Ignoring the pain, the kett commander pulled out it's own pistol. It emptied the magazine at the human who brazenly stood in the middle of the deck, tanking each shot. The human's shield collapsed near the end of the barrage allowing the final shot to plunge into his shoulder. The commander stood up as he felt his bioelectricity almost fully recharge, a smug smile on his face as he indicated his own shoulder wound as if to say that they were even now. Harry's response was simply to raise his hand, summoning the sand grain sized bullet out of his shoulder before his hand glowed green, healing the wound completely to show unmarked skin before the suit repaired itself.

Realizing that bullets would not have the stopping power for this brand of alien, the kett commander charged forward, managing to catch the human's shoulder with his hand before activating his bioelectric field. The human was meant to receive a massive jolt that would disable it's nervous system, allowing for an easy capture. All Harry did was allow the power to flow inside of himself, his core recharging even quicker than if one of the angara had helped him out. The wizard raised an eyebrow at the panicking kett as if to express just how underwhelmed he actually was with the whole fight so far. Deciding to wrap it up, Harry cast a point blank stunner into the alien's chest. The blast hit hard enough to propel the kett into the far wall where it slid to the floor in an unconscious heap. Now it was time to knock one more thing off of his bucket list.

A few minutes later, the door to the bridge slid open again as Sarissa charged into the room with her shotgun cocked and ready. The room's only occupants were a tied up kett laying on the floor and a wizard standing with his leg propped up on his prisoner as his hand held his chin. The asari blinked a few times as if trying to process the scene in front of her before a grin slowly slid across her face. Stowing her gun on her back, she slowly walked towards the wizard while putting an exaggerated emphasis on her hips and ass. "My hero" she cooed in a sultry voice before leaning in and kissing him lightly on the lips.

This was the scene the two turians saw as they came onto the bridge. "Oh!" Vitesia exclaimed excitedly as she clapped her hands together. "This is just like the ending to the Die Hard movies we watched on the way here!" She turned towards the new Turian Pathfinder with a frown. "How come you never do anything like that?"

All Avitus could do was stare.

XXXXXX

"So you actually stowed away in a cargo container... just to get picked up by a kett destroyer… which was run by a disgruntled angara with delusions of grandeur?" Harry shook his head in disbelief as he watched the crew of the Tempest engage in a shoving match to fit in front of the vid screen as he spoke to them. "What happened after that?"

"We went on the attack. Working our way through the ship to release the hostages and destroy his power base" the Pathfinder explained. "I also just want to go on record as saying the entire mission was Liam's idea and plan, so therefor his fault as well."

"You mean my success!" said ex-cop quickly interjected, attempting to salvage his credibility. "We took down a major criminal in this region of space, and even had one of the colonies step up to help us out. If that doesn't show that the Initiative is finally on it's feet again, then I don't know what will."

"All that means is you got lucky that Bradley was willing to pull our butts out of the fire" Sara quickly corrected him before she shoved her way to the center of the screen. "From now on, all intel will be run by Scott or myself before acted upon. Now speaking of missions Harry, what have you been up to?"

The wizard panned his camera slowly around the atrium he was currently sitting in before panning the view to catch a plaque on the wall proudly declaring the ships name to be the Natanus. "Just finished rescuing my third Ark" he huffed, rubbing some imaginary dirt from his shoulder guards. "We're on our way back now with the Ark, fourteen thousand turian colonists in cryo, and a new turian Pathfinder to help take the load off of Scott."

"That's great Harry!" Vetra chimed in, taking the camera over as the twin's fight escalated into a full fledged wrestling match in the background. "You're a hero to my people for this. I'll have to make sure to give you a good reward when you come back to the ship" she said, giving him a wink. She looked over her shoulder as a crash was heard, before quickly leaning in and giving a kiss to the camera. "See you in a few days Harry."

The wizard chuckled to himself as he deactivated his omnitool before looking out at the stars on display as the Natanus made best time for the Nexus. He had found the same location on this ship that had been his favorite spot while awake on the Hyperion, allowing him to enjoy a little nostalgia for when everything was so much simpler.

"Was that one of the two you told me about earlier?" Harry turned towards the voice, finding Avitus walking towards him accompanied by Vitesia.

"The older one" the wizard confirmed, before pushing himself to his feet with a groan as he felt his back pop in multiple places after sitting on the ground for so long. "Everything ok?" he questioned, unsure why they had tracked him down only a few hours into the trip.

"There's no emergencies" Avitus was quick to assure him, correctly reading the human's expression of alarm. "Dinner is in half an hour and we all decided to meet in the dining hall to eat together as a real crew would. This is a team we can all be proud of after all."

"Spoken like a true Pathfinder" Harry said with a smile, patting the turian on the shoulder as he maneuvered around them to head down the hallway. "I'll see you at dinner" he said with a wave before the doors closed shut behind him.

"What a strange yet wonderful human…" Vitesia commented as she moved to stand next to Avitus as he took the wizard's former spot to gaze upon the stars. "If only there were more like him, than our peoples might have begun getting along much sooner."

"I've met a few like him already on this trip" the turian Pathfinder said with a shrug. "I think we're all ready for a fresh start where old prejudices are left behind in the Milky Way." He scratched at a dry patch of scales under his suit, his talon's brushing against something that he had forgotten about in all the excitement of the last few days. Pulling out the dextro-chocolate bar from his pocket, he looked over at Vitesia before mentally saying 'Fuck it' and handing her the bar. His companion gasped in shock as she held the prized treat before staring a hole through his head as he continued to gaze out at the stars. Apparently a decision was made as she stepped closed to Avitus before looping her arm through his and laying her head on his shoulder.

Avitus Rix, Turian Pathfinder, played it cool. The only action he did was place his arm around her waist, pulling her in to lean against him as he enjoyed the view. Inside his head though, he was doing a victory dance with a gun blazing in the air and multiple pelvic thrusts like he had seen in the human videos. 'Maybe that wizard isn't half bad afterall' he thought to himself, unaware that multiple pairs of eyes were all watching his private moment.

Some turians cheered as their leader finally got the girl. Other's booed as they lost bets on if he ever would notice the opposite sex. "I don't get it" the wizard growled as he watched the two on the screen. "He even told me about how he could never land a woman before now, even with being a Spectre. How the hell did you two know this was going to happen?"

Kesh crossed her arms with a smug smile on her face, enjoying the fact that she had finally one-upped her husband-to-be. "It was the right time for it. You get a feel for these things if you've seen enough of them."

"Forget that" Sarissa scoffed, dismissing the krogan's explanation. "She wanted to claim him from the start of this trip. The right opportunity just never presented itself until now. He's belongs to her from now on."

Harry threw his hands up in defeat. Sometimes this kind of stuff just went over his head. "Fine" he said, looking downtrodden at the aspect of paying off the bet that he was realizing had been deliberately left quite open ended by the females. "What do I owe you two?"

"A Date!" both said at once, before turning to stare each other down. A new rivalry had been born.

 **A/N: I don't like taking sides in politics in America. Both sides have been disappointments in the past. On that note though, I find it absolutely hilarious that some of the House of Representatives are bringing up the fact that Trump's old lawyer, Michael Cohen is a known liar. Don't throw rocks in a glass house. Politicians giving lawyers a hard time about lying makes about as much sense as pornstars ripping on hookers for swallowing.**

 **Rant aside, this chapter wasn't all that easy to write. Giving Avitus a little more background to try to make him a real character instead of just another NPC is a real pain in the ass. Turians seem to have about as much depth as stormtroopers or anyone wearing a red shirt in Star Trek.**


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Welcome to the Sandbox

Evfra stared at the cronometer on the wall, watching the seconds tick by. He had been waiting at the security checkpoint for the interrogation area for the last five minutes, silently staring through the window at the slumbering angara manning the door controls. The guard was missing an arm, the stump wrapped in bandages that still had a small blood stain. Admittedly all he needed to do was clear his throat for the problem to be solved, but this marked a clear break in the resistance's security apparatus and he needed a better idea of just how bad it truly was. The practice for years was to have the angara who had been injured on the front lines to man admin stations during their recovery time. Clearly alternate solutions would be needed if this was representative of the Resistance as a whole.

His entertainment was interrupted as a second angara entered the security booth in a rush. The guard rolled his eyes at his negligent comrade before kicking the leg of the chair he slept in hard enough to pitch him backwards to the floor in a heap. Ignoring his comrade's shouting, the second guard snapped off a quick salute to their leader before keying the door to open. Evfra afforded him a quick nod for his diligence before turning with a sweep of his cape and entering the interrogation wing. "What's the status of Prisoner Alpha?" he barked out, startling the two angra who had been in a huddled conference outside the door at the end of the hall.

"No change sir!" one of them quickly reported as he came up in a salute, his comrade matching his action a second later. "The prisoner still refuses to answer any of our questions about the kett, simply stating that we are too primitive to understand. She continues to threaten us with holy retribution for destroying the 'sacred cathedral' but refuses to elaborate."

Evfra acknowledged the disappointing news with a grunt before shoulder past his subordinates in a path straight towards the holding room. The interrogator jumped as the door was kicked open while the kett barely batted an eye at the interruption. "More empty words from the lower life forms? You will all soon know the glory of exaltation! This is not but a delay before you all find true purpose."

The sermon was promptly ignored as the resistance leader crossed the room. "Hold her mouth open" he ordered. The interrogator wasting no time prying her jaw open none to gently with a metal rod. Without breaking eye contact with the prisoner, Evfra pulled a small vial from his pocket. "Give her three drops of this and wait for her eyes to cloud over" he instructed the other angara, before turning towards the door. "Bring in the broadcasting instruments. If this goes as well as I'm told, we'll be broadcasting this out to all of our resistance cells at once. This is too important to sit on."

"What makes you so sure this will work sir?" his subordinate questioned as the equipment was rapidly setup.

"This came from Jaal and Darra, courtesy of the Initiative's Wizard. What we have in our possession is a genuine truth serum that the kett's genetic engineering has not found a way around yet. Our alliance is already starting to pay off, though it's far too soon for trust." He grinned as the kett's head lolled to the side, her eyes glazed and mouth hung open. He pulled a chair from the wall before sitting before the enemy of his people and leaning forward. "It's time for some answers."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Welcome to the Nexus! The journey may have been rougher than expected but we're here now and that's what matters." Jien Garson once again stood on a platform in the middle of the cargo bay as thousands of turians gathered around her. The SAM node on the Natanus was able to be repaired with the assistance of Sarissa and her AI, allowing the crew to backtrack the original journey and retrieve the stranded turian settlers who were ejected as damage was taken. Hundreds had died due to harsh conditions they had suddenly found themselves in. But for ever tragedy, there were dozens of triumphs. The hardy race banding together to overcome adversity while awaiting their long overdue rescue.

Jien waited for the polite applause to die down before continuing. "Thanks to the hard work of Superintendent Kesh and her teams, the Nexus is almost fully completed with two wards already up and running with a third being started. After you are processed and medically cleared, you will be assigned rooms to live in temporarily until you can be sent to your final destination. I know the world you had planned on colonizing isn't an option anymore, and I promise you that we understand your pain. The other planets we planned to live on were just as ruined." She paused for a moment, before a smile began to grow as her voice lifted in excitement. "The good news is that we already have begun colonizing two planets, with new ones constantly being discovered by our pathfinder teams. I know conditions there aren't exactly nominal, but terraforming has already begun and they are rapidly improving as we set down roots."

The turians murmured to each other as Jien indicated for someone to join her on stage, stooping down to pull the Moshae up to stand next to her. Motioning for silence, Jien raised her voice again. "Our time hasn't been spent just exploring either. The Initiative has already made new enemies in an alien race called the Kett who are bent on either enslaving or destroying all species in the helius cluster. I won't lie to you. This will not be an easy fight. But what seemed insurmountable before, now just seems challenging with the arrival of the turians!" The birdmen cheered at that. It was nice to have your species be appreciated for its contributions.

Indicating to the elderly angara, the Initiative leader continued with the built up momentum. "We've also been able to make a new ally as well. This is Moshae Sjefa, one of the representatives of the Angara. They are a proud people, already brought low by the same galactic natural disaster that you experienced upon arrival to Helius, only to suffer an invasion shortly afterwards. But just because they have the tenacity of the humans and might of the turians, don't let it distract you from their other traits. Their intelligence and compassion rival any of ours as well and we are lucky that they were there to offer help to us in our hour of need." This time the angara who dotted the audience erupted in cheer, never believing an alien species would describe their own so favorably.

"Alright!" the Initiative leader clapped her hands, blowing out a heavy sigh as if relieved that the speech was wrapping up. "Due to popular demand and a work schedule permitting, the bar has been expanded to become a full club covering three stories with an additional dance floor. The stores line the far wall by the tram, and our first restaurant is now up and running with the arrival of the asari Ark." She lowered her voice as if telling a secret, "I make no promises on the dextro choices though." This earned her a quick chuckle from the appreciative audience. "Processing is behind you to the left. There are multiple stations open but I imagine the wait will take a while. Feel free to grab a number and enjoy what the common areas can offer. All we ask is that you don't travel to the other areas of the Nexus until you are processed so we can attempt to understand what our supply situation is looking like."

"She's still got it" Sarissa commented from her spot on the rail overlooking the rest of the loading docks. The asari shook her head in admiration of the human woman's oration skills. "Those were the same speeches that convinced all of us to go on this goddess forsaken journey in the first place."

"I know, right?" Scott shook his head as he watched the show. "I'd probably do it all over again too after listening to that. Look at them! They look like they could invade the kett and win after hearing her."

Avitus let out a chuckle as he watched the turians, some of whom had been fighting the Roekaar just a week before, mingle with the angara. "That's just how my people are in general. I honestly think fighting a species lets you understand them better. We fought the humans, and now we're collaborating with them in almost as many facets as the asari. With luck, the Angara will be something similar as well."

All three of their omnitools chimed at the same time, prompting a sigh from the trio as they opened the messages. "You get the meeting invite as well?" Scott asked as he closed the screen, getting nods from the others as they joined him on the journey to their destination. "I swear I never would have taken this job over if I had known how much meetings and admin work are involved" he grumbled. "Dad always sold it as adventure, fighting, and survival in an unknown galaxy."

Avitus gave him a commiserating pat on the shoulder as they climbed into the tram. "Macen always hid the boring part of it from me as well. I think it's just their way of ensuring someone would always want the job." He brought a hand up to scratch his headplate as he stared out the window in reflection as the station flew by. "I really should have expected it though… Spectre work was pretty much the same thing. A whole lot of hurry up and wait."

"Meh" Sarissa dismissed the complaints, having experienced it for too long to label it is anything more than a minor inconvenience. "The higher up you get on the food chain, the more paperwork is involved. It's the same thing everywhere, no matter what species." She was interrupted by a new message arrival. "Why are the telling us to bring our bathing suits to the meeting?" she asked her companions, confusion in her voice. "Is this a human thing I don't know about?"

Scott facepalmed at the question, unable to believe the lack of professionalism shown by the Initiative leadership in meetings. "No, it isn't. Humans always used to say that if you're crazy and rich, then you're eccentric. But if you're crazy and poor, then you're insane. Jien is obviously eccentric and I'm willing to bet Harry is enabling it."

"Oh good!" Sarissa exclaimed as she rubbed her hands together in excitement. "That means it might not be boring." She ignored the deadpan looks given by the human and turian as she tried to guess what would happen soon. "Trust me. After the first hundred years, you begin to value things like this alot more."

XXXXXX

A large cut out of Jien Garson was the first thing to greet the Pathfinders as they reached the last corner that led to the meeting room. "Welcome to the party!" a recording of the Initiative's leader echoed through the hallway around them, sounding way too cheerful. "Grab a drink and put on a lei before you join us. Bring your appetite and prepare for some fun!" Scott and Avitus looked to each other in confusion, silently daring the other to follow the directions first. A moment passed before Sarissa shouldered past them with a huff of frustration. The asari pulled a flower necklace from the cutout and donned it, before grabbing a drink from the tray offered up and continuing around the last corner.

"Harry!" she exclaimed, as she spotted her latest infatuation working on a panel by the door to the meeting room. The wizard had disappeared from the Ark quickly and quietly after the docking procedure had finished, stating unequivocally that he wanted no part of the celebration. "What happened to you? Did you get invited to the meeting too?"

The wizard looked over his shoulder at them, smiling before ducking back towards the wall. "Jien messaged me, asking for a favor in preparing for the meeting. I've been working on this for the last few hours since we arrived." He was interrupted as a small flash of light and a few sparks shot out of where he was working, managing to raise the curiosity of the three pathfinders even more as they gathered around him. "Most of the work is done already" he explained as he used his wand to melt another rune into the wall near the power box for the room. "Jien said to just head in when you arrived. I'll be right behind you after I finish up here."

"Sounds like a plan" Scott said, trying to speed the conversation along. He knew how much his friend hated being interrupted when in the middle of a project. Giving the turian and asari a light shove in their backs to move them through the door, he paused before looking to the wizard. "You're back with us when we head out again Harry. It hasn't been the same without you."

"I missed you guys too." the wizard assured him, before stowing his wand and placing his palm over the carving. The Pathfinder watched as an faint white light seemed to envelope Harry's body before it centered around his hand and was forced into the wall, making the runes glow softly. His friend stood up, dusting off his palms before retrieving a drink and a lei for himself. "Shall we?" he indicated towards the door.

Ryder took the lead, stepping through the door's threshold, and proceeding to drop his jaw as he stared at a beach shore with a crystal clear ocean slowly rolling in a few meters away. Addison and Jien had taken over the volleyball net, the Initiative leader trying to instruct Kesh in the game's mechanics. It was clear to the observers that the krogan was merely humoring her boss. The female dinosaur perked up as she spied the object of her affection enter the beach, her eyes begging him to save her from the humiliation she was enduring. The wizard promptly ignored the krogan version of the puppy dog look, tapping Scott on the shoulder to break him out of his stupor. Grabbing the Pathfinder's attention, he directed his friend to the changing booths with a slight shove.

With a quick transfiguration, the Harry's everyday outfit was transfigured into a pair of blue board shorts and a pair of flip-flops. Now dressed for the event, he moved over to the grill that Kesh had constructed to his specifications. Lighting it up, the wizard closed his eyes and enjoyed the return to what was once normalcy for a minute as the sounds of the beach echoed around him.

A pair of lithe female human arms circling around his neck interrupted his moment, causing him to spin around to confront his attacker. To his surprise, Cora was standing directly in front of him in a sky blue one piece swimsuit that hugged every curve of her body while still preserving her modesty. "I missed you" she whispered, pulling him into a hug.

He returned the gesture, a soft smile on his face as he held her close. She had grown to be one of the least aggressive women in his life, allowing him to let his guard down more. "It's been a while. How's the training of the new huntresses going?"

She let go of him with a sigh of contentment, taking a step back to watch him pull out a cooler and enlarge it. She couldn't help but ogle his physique a bit as he retrieved a few plates of labeled meat from the container, setting them on the grill. "It's been going well. I helped with the first class's day to day training while another group of senior huntresses were thawed out and brought up to speed. Now that they aren't hurting for people so much, I talked Jien into assigning me to Sarissa's Pathfinder team. It's not exactly where I wanted to be, but I get to go back on the Tempest again where I'm closer to the people I care about."

"That's great news!" he said, sporting a huge grin that was returned by his friend. "I haven't been onboard in a while either, so It'll be a homecoming for the both of us." He watched the volleyball game as it began to pick up, more and more Initiative were arriving. The enlarged room was getting packed as the invitees stood in shock at the door before crowding behind them forced them to enter the beach and start to explore. "You should hit the water before the actual meeting starts. I matched the heat of it to mirror the Bahamas." He couldn't keep the pride out of his voice, considering the extra work he had put in to make it as accurate as possible.

"I think I will!" she exclaimed, taking off jogging towards the water. "Save me a cheeseburger!" she requested before jumping into the surf. She was quickly joined by more of the party goers as she dived under the water. It seemed as though the tradition of waiting for someone else to enter the water first was alive and well.

Scott and Avitus joined their magical friend, the three males enjoying the sights of the party while they manned the grill. A line soon formed in front of them as the smell of cooked meat began to waft over the area. Avitus forked up a dextro burger for the last hungry turian before turning towards Harry. "I don't get it. This is nice and all, but why go through the work of setting something like this up when there is still so much to do before we can consider ourselves safe?"

The wizard shrugged as he began to flip the meat again. "I did this on a small scale for Jien a while back to get her to destress before she worked herself into a coma again. She contacted me about setting this up on a more permanent basis a few days before the Natanus arrived at the Nexus." He used the spatula to point at the sun that was beginning to set over the water line in the distance, causing the shadows to grow longer. "That's all just an illusion on a massive scale, and it takes power to run it. I use the runes you saw me carving outside to control the spells, and an angara can power them with their bioelectric energy. Jien already is negotiating with the Moshae to hire a few just for that purpose. If it works out, I'll be using some holo recordings and first hand memories of the crew to create something similar for the asari, turians, and salarians too."

"That's right!" Jien chirped as she came up next to Harry, bumping her hips into his as she stared hungrily at the food. "This has a two fold purpose of raising the morale by letting people experience a little bit of their homes and letting the angara see more of where we come from than just a few holo vids that we brought with us." She cheered as the wizard handed her a plate with a double burger before taking a huge bite, her eyes rolling back as she savored the taste. "God Harry, that was just what I needed…" she moaned out, causing said wizard to blush in embarrassment while Avitus and Scott cracked up at the situation. "Are we still on time for…?"

"Yes!" Harry cut her off before she could embarrass him any further. "The sun will set in an hour and a half, leaving it dark enough for your presentation. Now go find somewhere else to eat!" The Initiative leader cackled as she sauntered back to the group of administrators, Addison already lecturing her on how she was representing herself. "No damn shame at all" the wizard mumbled, unable to take his eyes off of her as she walked away.

"She almost died" Scott explained softly, making sure not to be overheard by the crowd. "When that happens to someone, they usually reexamine what they consider important. Her dream of colonizing another galaxy that she has dedicated her life to is finally becoming reality and she has just realized there is still a whole lot more to live for. Once the colonies are established enough to set up representation, then we'll form a real government and her role will be over. In the meantime, just keep doing what you're doing to keep her happy and healthy." He patted the wizard on the back before grabbing a burger for himself. "For all our sakes."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry took hold of the strand of magic, following it's path as it meandered through his body until he entered the space containing his core. His magic had been even more disruptive the last week since he had returned from the retrieval of the Natanus, making the set up of the beach illusion for Jien feel much harder than it had been the first time. The wizard had taken the first moment of downtime available to him to do another deep dive into his magic, intent on finding answers.

A powerful wave of magic rocked him the moment he entered the room. Before now, the sensation was like an ocean wave crashing around him as it passed by. This time it was more in tune with a hurricane gust, powerful enough to pick him up and carry him away if he didn't maintain control. He watched a wave of magic pulse from the large white orb representing his magical core. The magic struck the six smaller purple spheres that orbited his core, the wave now amplified by their effect continued to move on as normal.

Here was where it all started to go tits up though. A new dark grey sphere slowly orbited out from around his core, giving off a sense of vileness that almost seemed the exact opposite to the purple ones. As his magic rolled over the grey sphere, the portion that hit it rebound backwards to collide against his magical core. The wizard almost winced in perceived pain as he watched gray lightning spread over his core from the impact point before dying down before a new magical wave was generated to repeat the process.

Ducking to the oustside of the room to avoid the storm, Harry sat against the wall as he observed the magical phenomena. 'What could have happened between fixing the Natanus and now to cause that gray orb to appear?' the wizard asked himself, wracking his brain for an answer. He watched the lightning spread across his core, comparing its similarities to how the bioelectric field of the kett ascendant that he had fought…

The wizard face palmed, cursing himself in every magical and mundane swear word he had ever heard for his lack of common sense. That gray sphere had to be the result of him absorbing the kett's bioelectric attack on the scout ship's bridge! The question was what exactly was the sphere, and why was it effecting him. The wizard reentered the core chamber, forcing his way through the waves until he reached the gray sphere. His hand began to tingle as he reached towards it, almost as if it was receiving a slight electrical shock from it's proximity. Upon contact, he visibly flinched from the vile feeling given off by the orb. It just felt 'kett' for a lack of a better word. Like something beautiful had been taken and perverted into the bastardized thing that was before him now. Strangely enough, he could feel an echo of another presence from it, suppressed but still there and calling for help.

Releasing the polluted magic with a shudder, he made his way over to the largest of the purple spheres. The same one he had almost grabbed the last time. It gave off feelings of happiness as he neared, almost as if it had been waiting for him to arrive. Upon contact, it's magic surged forth through him again. He was startled with it's familiarity, sure he had experienced it before… Darra! His eyes flew open as his eyebrows shot up past his bangs. This was the exact same feeling that he got every time she would donate her bioenergy to his magic when he had exhausted himself in the past! It also explained why it was so large compared to the other's since she had helped him multiple times compared to the other angara who had only assisted him once a piece in the assault of the kett processing plant on Voeld.

Curious, Harry surged a little of his magic into the orb. As it received his gift it chimed as it began to glow a soft purple. The other purple spheres chimed in response before slowly drifting over to Darra's sphere. To Harry's surprise, they merged together making a slightly larger but much denser sphere. The new deep purple sphere still felt faintly of Darra, yet more at the same time… as if there were echo's of others there as well.

The wizard flinched as another wave rolled past him, reminding him of the main problem that still needed to be dealt with. Returning to the contaminated sphere, he suppressed his revolusion and placed his hand on it again. Wasting no time, he surgered his magic into it, hoping for a repeat performance of what happened with Darra's orb. To his amazement, the orb seemed to actively resist his magic. It was reflected back into his hand with a jolt, making him rear back in actual pain that he was sure would show on his physical body when he returned to it later.

'No pain, no gain…' Harry told himself before surging forward again. This time he constantly pushed his power into the orb, maintaining the pressure and not giving it a chance to fight back as he sought to dominate it. Nothing seemed to change for the first minute before he watched a strand of deep blue stretch from the bottom of the orb until it snaked its way to the top. Encouraged, he pulsed his magic again, ramping up the pressure. The blue now spread along the equator of the orb, slowly pushing the gray back as it claimed the surface area for itself. With an audible crack, the orb flew from his hand back to its original orbit. The grey of the kett had disappeared, now leaving a soft blue glow. *Ding* it chimed happily as it neared the wizard in its orbit. *Dong* the purple orb answered, almost expressing its own joy at what had happened. ***BONG*** Harry's core answered them both, the difference in volume being compared to that of a bicycle ring being answered by the boom of a church bell. A wave of magic washed from it, getting amplified by the purple wave before being sent on. When it hit the blue wave, an faint electrical charge was added to wave before it was sent on.

'Well that was interesting…' the wizard thought to himself as he came back to his body, pushing himself up from his seat on the floor in Tempest's observation deck. 'I think I'm going to need a second opinion on this…'

XXXXX

"You had a device to allow us to perfectly experience memories and you're just telling us about it now!?" Suvi's body trembled as she worked to suppress her frustration, clenching her fists and biting down on her tongue until her anger began to subside. "This is something that we could have used weeks ago Harry!" She glared across the stone pensive at the wizard standing opposite of her, causing him to flinch.

"I wasn't trying to be secretive" the wizard desperately tried to defend himself from the out of character anger displayed by the usually calm science officer. "It just never came up in a conversation before so I didn't think about it. We've been busy as a one armed house elf until now and I haven't exactly kept inventory of everything I have stored up. I didn't really have a limit like the rest of you when it came to cargo storage for the trip here so I just packed up everything I could get my hands on, magical and mundane."

"This isn't over Harry Potter" the science officer said with a huff as she made a note to herself on her omnitool. "When we have free time, I'm getting Vetra and we are taking an inventory of _everything_ that you have with you. Who knows what else there might be that we should have been told about already!" She closed her eyes, centering herself as she brought her brain back to the task at hand. "You brought me here for a reason. What is it you thought I needed to see?"

Harry ejected his wand from it's holster, looking at it for a moment before stowing it away again. Placing his index and middle finger to his temple, he concentrated on the memory of his latest adventure before pulling a silver strand from his head and placing it into the pensive. "Touching your finger to it plays the memory above the bowl like a video recording, while putting your face in the bowl lets you experience the memory around you fully like you were there yourself. What you're about to see is my perspective of what my magical core looks like. It's a highly personal thing for wizards and I'm trusting you to keep this private between us unless I say otherwise."

"Of course Harry. I promise" Suvie was touched that her friend was trusting her with something so intimate. Deciding that she needed to give the memory her best effort, she lightly touched her nose to the water before her consciousness was sucked into the pensive. The wizard observed her silently for the fifteen minutes she was gone. The memory was only five minutes long at best, which meant she had viewed it multiple times. Quite an impressive feat considering he hadn't given her directions on how to control the pensive before hand. Suvi came back to herself with a gasp as she reared back, her eyes flying around the room wildly before locking on him with an intensity that she hadn't exhibited in front of him before. "I think I have an idea of what is going on, but I need a second opinion. Can you allow me to bring Darra and Jaal into this memory?"

Harry initially balked at allowing more people to traipse around what he considered his last bastion of privacy. A combination of Suvi's sad eyes and his own need for answers eventually swayed him to her line of thinking. He gave a reluctant nod, causing her to cheer in celebration before running out to retrieve the angara before he could change his mind. There was science to discover!

A few minutes later, Harry appeared in his core chamber again. This time, he was watching an image of himself as he floated slowly towards the core while accompanied by Suvi, Darra, and Jaal. The guests watched the events silently, listening to the commentary from the wizard until he began to explain his theory of the orbs' origins. Darra gasped as he pointed out the large purple one, pleased that she had such a presence in his life. Jaal nudged her shoulder in silent support, knowing of her not so secret desire and intent on helping her achieve it. He was surprised a moment later when Harry pointed out the orb he believed came from Jaal himself. The big angarra had forgotten about his assistance to the wizard in the past, silently contemplating what it could mean socially.

"This is what I wanted you all to see" Harry explained, pausing the memory as the purple orbs began to merge. "Magic has a will of its own, and it looks like the angaran magical energy wanted to join together to magnify its effects. Are you able to do this with your bioelectric energy in real life?"

"Only rarely" Jaal answered, disappointment in his voice at not being able to duplicate what he had just seen. "The only recordings we have heard of this happening before were from identical twins whose cores were mirror images of each other."

"There were also a few cases of some of our most experienced sages coming close to this in the past" Darra supplied helpfully. "But it took decades of training to ever get even the most minute results."

Suvi walked forward, stopping underneath the merging orbs to take a closer look at them. "You could tell Darra and Jaal's orbs by how the magic felt right Harry?" At his nod, she went back to examining them again. "Maybe it happened now because the minds' weren't involved, just the energy itself." She shook her head a moment later, already beginning to poke holes in her theory as she returned to the group. "That is highly unlikely though. The angara would have already thought of that long ago."

"Don't be so sure about that…" Darra said, looking to Jaal only for him to shake his head. "You have to remember two things. Angara are usually very private with our energy signatures so experiments like this are close to taboo in our culture. And even if it was done, most of our history was wiped out by the scourge. Except for a few places, our knowledge doesn't go back past a few hundred years."

"Something to consider later on" Harry said with a nod before starting the memory again. "Now watch this next bit closely. I'm pretty sure the gray sphere I'm having trouble with came from a kett that tried to electrocute me before I absorbed his bio energy."

Darra gasped as she watched the orb change color before her eyes. Harry soon found himself trapped in a bear hug between the two angara, tears flowing from both pairs of eyes as they wept in joy. The wizard shot a confused look to his fellow human only for her to shoot a smug smile back at him. "I'm guessing they came to the same conclusion I did" she explained to the confused wizard. "You managed to alter that orbs energy to something nonkett, proving that at least part of the process is reversible."

"But I remember the briefing you and Lexi gave us from the autopsies you performed on the kett dead that we collected" the wizard said in confusion. "This came from one of the kett that originated outside of the Helius cluster so he couldn't have been angaran before he changed."

"That doesn't matter Harry!" Jaal exclaimed, releasing his friend to walk forwards to stare at the blue orb. "Part of the process to turning a new species into kett is for their entire genetic structure to be broken down so desirable traits can be harvested and applied to all kett. The bioelectric attacks of the ascendant were grafted in to them after taking them from angara genetics. This means that if an alien kett's bioelectricity can be altered, than so can an angara!"

"Not to rain on the parade, but kett exaltation is both mental and physical" Suvi reminded everyone. "This definitely puts us one step closer to reversing the process though." 'It also means that the kett in each cluster might be genetically diverse from the rest if their communications aren't instantaneous like ours.' Something for her to consider later with the Nexus's science team.

XXXXXX

Scott paced slowly in front of the cargo bay ramp, gathering his thoughts as he prepared to address the away team. It had grown significantly bigger as more and more of the Initiative had joined up to their cause. Avitus stood Vitesia and Vetra in a loose formation to one side. The other side was occupied by Sarissa, Cora and Peebee. Liam, Sara, Jaal and Darra all stood in a group in front of him, waiting for him to start.

"Our next stop is Elaaden, a desert moon with murderously scorching heat and barely and shade in sight. We had planned on confronting the outcasts on Kadara next but Director Garson diverted us to here half way through our trip. The leader of the krogan, Overlord Morda, has requested assistance immediately with something of vital importance that she'll only explain in person. She was quoted as saying 'If the Initiative won't help us now, then New Tuchanka will go at it alone from now on.' I don't know about you, but that isn't acceptable to me. We're either strong together or weak individually as we get picked off by the kett." A cheer came from his audience, causing him to grin as he began to feel the energy of the room.

"Now we're all going to New Tuchanka together to talk to the Overlord, but splitting off afterwards to follow up on different objectives. Sarissa and her team will be working on whatever objective Morda needs accomplished. Avitus will be taking his team to investigate reports of water hidden somewhere on this moon. I can't stress enough that we can't set up a viable colony here without access to H2O. I'm taking the rest of us to investigate the remnant pylons and see if we can't get the vault up and running here. The previous vaults all seemed to help with making their planets more viable to life and I have every belief that this one won't be any different."

The ship shuddered as it entered the atmosphere, prompting everyone to do final weapons and gear checks. Just because the planet had a liveable atmosphere, didn't mean any of them could handle the heat for too long without protection of hard suits. "You're going to love it here runt" Drack grinned ferally as he stood at the base of the boarding ramp, waiting for it to be lowered and letting him be the first one off. "Krogan never go half assed when we choose a place to live. Survival to us means finding a place no sane soft skin would ever want to put down roots."

"Keep talking ancient one" the wizard grunted next to him, bracing himself as the ship landed. The ramp began to lower, a wave of heat washing into the cargo bay as all the surfaces became coated in a fine layer of sand. "We all know the krogan are tough, but none of the planets we've colonized have been all that safe and sound." He followed Drack out into the dessert, waiting for the rest of the team to join them as he looked around with mild curiosity. "What the hell makes this planet so special that you guys get bragging rights?"

"Heh Heh Heh…" Drack chuckled, pointing over the wizard's shoulder. Harry turned… and immediately began to back up the ramp before the krogan put a hand on his shoulder, holding the wizard in place. "Krogan just wouldn't feel right without Kalros there to greet us each morning." He watched as a metal snake, obviously remnant technology, that dwarfed the architects in size arched out of the sands in the distance. It's flight carried it miles before it plunged back into the ground, hurling a geyser of sand into the air. As if that wasn't enough, it was soon followed by a second, equally large snake, that followed the firsts flight path. The ground vibrated under Harry's feet as he watched them.

Drack watched with pride. "That, runt, is what gives the krogan bragging rights. We may not have any more thresher maws in Andromeda, but damn if we didn't find the next best thing."

 **A/N: Plot chapter. Setting up for the awesomeness to come and making the storyline worth more than just one book. Fucking krogan never do anything part way. They're like if all the Chuck Norris jokes joined together and decided to become an alien species.**

 **Thank you once again to all the people who leave reviews. Whenever I have writer's block, going back and reading them helps alot. Compliments, criticisms, and 'I would have done it like this' reviews all help get the creative juices flowing and this story wouldn't be half as long as it already is without you.**

 **Also a big thank you to Reviledpembroke and a few others for leading the charge on unofficially beta'ing this for spelling and grammar errors that I miss on my review. You guys are appreciated.**


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Meeting the Locals and Establishing Dominance

It was hot. Not just uncomfortably hot, but so hot that people took stupid risks just for a chance to get cool. Harry contemplated this as he worked up a wad of spit in his mouth, attempting to clear out the dust he had inhaled from the jaw dropping sight of the remnant's answer to thresher maws. Once he gathered up as much as he could, he turned his head and spat. He watched the arc of the spittle as it flew through the air, only to be instantly evaporated by a gust of searing wind.

"Heh Heh Heh…" Drack chuckled as he watched the pitiful display. "You're doing it all wrong runt. Blood is what makes it fly." The krogan worked his mouth for a few seconds before rearing his head back and pitching forwards. A bright yellow-orange gob flew from his mouth in a lazy arc before splattering on the carapace of a beetle trundling along the side of a cliff. The insect tottered precariously on the edge before pitching over the side and smashing itself on the rocks sticking from the cliff face. "Now that's how it's done!" the krogan preened at his surprise kill, before throwing his head back and roaring into the desert air.

It was soon answered by another krogan roaring back in response in the distance, followed by four more along with random weapons being fired into the sky. "Well…" Scott said drolly as he turned towards the distant sound, "I think Drack just gave us a heading on where to find the rest of the krogan." He turned to look at the large group, signaling for everyone to fall out and get into the Nomad. The traditional gathering commenced, eyes narrowing at each other as threat assessments were made over who to fight first. Avitus, Vitesia, Darra, Jaal, and Sarissa all watched in confusion as the group waited for Scott to approach the driver's side door of the tank. Sighing at the random tradition that had formed, the human Pathfinder raised his pistol in the air. At the sound of the shot being fired, the members surged forward in a dead sprint.

Harry watched them go before spinning in place and reappearing at the passenger side door. He leaned against the tank as Scott joined him, the two content to watch the battle being fought as biotics and fists began to fly through the air fast and furious. Cora, Sara, and PeeBee had began a wrestling match between the three of them, biotics flaring as they each worked to come out dominate. A roar drew their attention to a spot a few feet away. Vetra and Liam had appearently teamed up to take Drack out of the running, the turian placing the dinosaur in a headlock while the human tried to take him out at the knees. The krogan was clearly having the most fun out of everyone, already forgetting about the objective entirely and fighting simply for the sake of fighting.

Scott glanced over at the wizard, "How do you always escape without getting caught up in the scrum? You'd think they'd figure out to go after you first."

"Notice-me-not spell" Harry whispered to him, not wanting his secret to be known to the other competitors. "If you don't have to fight, then why the bloody hell should I?" Placing his hand on the tank door, he called out "Shotgun!" before climbing aboard and locking himself in.

"Fuck it" Scott muttered to himself before climbing into the driver's seat. They were soon joined by rest of the battle's observers, everyone wanting to escape the heat.

"Is this normal?" Sarisa groused as she leaned into an A/C port, closing her eyes in contentment as the cold air blasted over her. She hadn't seen anything like that in the hundreds of years she'd been alive. The worst part was she couldn't even call it a 'human' thing since PeeBee was throwing down just as hard as everyone else.

"It is for two out of three worlds we've had the Nomad for" Scott explained. "Voeld was too damn cold and it's near impossible to have a fight in snow with bad traction."

"That's correct" Jaal agreed, trying to be helpful even as he was confused over the purpose of the fight. "Snow fighting usually comes down to whoever loses their balance first, loses the fight."

Darra rolled her eyes at her fellow angaran, not intent on waiting to find out the battle's purpose. "But why fight at all? It serves no purpose to helping complete the mission."

"Oh, that's simple" Scott called over his shoulder as he ran through the startup procedures. He smiled as he felt the tank rumble to life beneath him. "No one wants to sit in the cargo bay and seating up front is limited. You two and our asari Pathfinder got lucky since you can claim ignorance, but I doubt they'll let you get away with taking them again if you don't earn it."

Vitesia looked confused, shifting from her seated position in the cargo bay to lean into Avitus and whisper to him, "Why are they acting like this isn't normal? Turians always do something like this before we start a mission. It's how you determine the order of authority with those of the same rank as you."

Avitus shrugged one shoulder, unwilling to move the other one if it meant dislodging the female turian leaning into him. "Human traditions match ours to a surprising extent from what I know. The difference is that they call it 'unspoken rules' that are expected to happen, but never openly talked about. Turians just treat it as part of the normal process." His attention was pulled to the locked door as it vibrated as if someone was trying to open it. This was soon followed by a loud thump of frustration. Scott simply ignored it, flipping the switch to open up the cargo hatch in the back.

"Why the hell are the passenger doors locked already?" Sara could be heard grousing as she threw in a stunned PeeBee followed by an exhausted Cora, the two girls groaning in pain as they tried to catch their breath. As she prepared to pull herself up, the sister of the Pathfinder finally got a look at the occupied seats in the front half of the tank. "Of all the bullshit… Why the hell do they get to take the seats?" Sarissa just smiled back at her smuggly, the two angra at least having the decency to look abashed but still unwilling to give up their spots.

"Because you didn't explain the rules to them" Scott yelled back, being one of the few people who didn't fear his sister's wrath. "They got there first and took them while you were still throwing down out there."

Her comeback was interrupted as Liam's body flew over her head before landing in the cargo bay and rolling to a stop. Vetra landed on top of the groaning man as she was tossed in as well. Drack preened to himself as he approached the Nomad, "I win again" he crowed as he dusted off his hands. He never saw it coming.

A biotic blast caught him in the side of his hump, flinging him face first into the sand. Before he was able to gather his wits and let the rage take over, he was biotically lifted and thrown into the cargo bay. As he lay on his side in pain, he watched Sara pull herself into the Nomad before turning to close the hatch behind her. " _I_ win again" she calmly said, before climbing over the two rows packed with people and squeezed herself onto Harry's lap. It was a tight fit, but she had won the fight and was determined to collect her prize. The eyes glaring jealously at her warmed her soul.

Harry simply closed his eyes, trying to go to his happy place and ignore the goings on around him. 'Think unsexy thoughts… Think unsexy thoughts…' he repeated the mantra over and over in his head, doing his best to ignore Sara's natural scent of oranges that washed over him, let alone the friction with her better than average sized bum as she tried to get comfortable.. A hard suit was tight enough on a normal basis. There was very little room for someone who was having a 'growing' problem. Just when he had given up hope, a familiar hand reached from behind the seat and began to run itself through his hair. He tensed at the surprise contact before relaxing as a faint pulse of energy was pushed into his magic coils, identifying the caresser as Darra. 'Maybe this won't be so bad after all' he reflected, tuning out Scott and Sara as the twins began to argue over the best route to the krogan base as his scalp massage continued.

XXXXXX

"Welcome to New Tuchanka!" Drax bellowed as he held his arms wide in front of him as the gate slowly opened. The krogan guards on either side of the gate stood a little straighter as the group passed them, the old krogan's pride in his home rubbing off on them as well.

"You made it sound like the best natural fortress in Andromeda" Sarissa commented as she stared at the krogan fortress growing out of the stone pillar, completely underwhelmed. "All I see is a big rock sticking out of some sand."

"You just aren't looking at it the right way" Avitus countered, the krogan around him unsubtly eavesdropping on their conversation. "Their in a naturally hardened position that provides shade from the heat. It's surrounded by giant sand pits except for two easily defendable land bridges and even can support landing pads for air units. This would be the perfect place to set up a forward base in enemy territory, though I sure wouldn't want to make a colony out of it."

"The turian gets it" a new voice came from the cave leading into the base. "That's what always made them the best to fight with. They understood their enemy." All the krogan in the area abandoned their tasks, turning to see the show as their leader greeted the Initiative. One of the largest female krogan Harry had ever seen sauntered out of the base, scrutinizing each of the Initiative closely before moving on to the next. He was the last to be examined, the krogan female dismissing him just as easily with a grunt before turning back to the trio of Pathfinders at the front of the party.

"I'm Nakmor Morda, Overlord of the krogan in Andromeda. You can thank Jien for us even being willing to speak to you after how we were betrayed by the Initiative earlier." Grumbles and growls echoed around them from the hundreds of krogan bearing witness. "It'll take a long time to begin to earn our trust back again. You may be weak on your own, but krogan still stand strong! We'll survive and thrive here on our own!" Her followers roared in agreement, the sound reverberating out across the desert dunes.

"This group isn't weak" Drack spoke up as he stepped forward. "I've been out fighting kett on a half dozen worlds this last year. Learning about our new enemy so we can grind them under our boots just like everyone else we faced." He had the crowd's attention now, the dinosaurs listening to his wisdom as they fantasize about the battles to come in the future as he continued on. "I've driven the kett from multiple planets with these warriors. We've met them in battle, taken their bases, and driven them off into space."

"That's right!" Scott agreed loudly, the crowd's heads swiveling to him like a tennis match. "I can't fix the fuckups that happened the year before I arrived here. All I can do is go forward from here to prove that we stand with the krogans like it should have been from the start. Tell us how we can help and we'll get to work. Tell us what you need and we'll see it done." Channeling his inner krogan that he learned from Drack, the Pathfinder flared his biotics hard enough to cause the loose stones around him to rise in the air. Picking up on the que, Sarissa and Sara did the same, while Avitus Racked his shotgun loudly. "Tell us who needs killing and we'll end them!" This earned him a roar of approval from the crowd, unused to seeing Initiative members act so bloodthirsty.

"Fancy words!" Morda countered, before stepping forward to slowly pace around Scott. "What we need is stability. Stability that can be brought with a guaranteed power source." She pointed towards the large remnant ship that had crashed in the desert off in the distance. The ancient hulk was buried at least half way, yet still towered higher in the air than any other landmark on the planet. "Bring me the power core from that ship so I can ensure my people's survival. Then we'll talk about the future." She turned to go back into the base, the crowd dispersing behind her as the show was clearly over.

The Overlord stopped short of the entrance though as the sound of a large transport's engines could be heard approaching. The heavy angaran shuttle passed by overhead before setting down on the landing pad built over the sand pit. The back third of the ship hung precariously out in the open air even though there was clearly more than enough room left over on the pad. A female angara left the ship, sauntering slowly over to the leader of the krogan as if she didn't have a care in the world. Loathing and superiority could be clearly seen in her expression, as if she held all the cards over the dangerous being in front of her.

"Who's that?" Scott asked out loud. There had to be a story to this meeting and he was curious as to what it was.

"Annea" one of the gate guards mumbled. "Lower your voice human. Don't anger her or we're all in trouble." He sighed as he noticed the human's questioning look, realizing that he wasn't going to leave without getting an explanation. "She owns the only water source on the moon and keeps it hidden from everyone. People live and die at her whim and she hates anyone from the Milky Way."

"What's stopping you from just taking her water tanks and forcing her to tell you where the source is?" Vitesia asked from her spot near the wall. She didn't condone theft, but there was no way she would allow her people's future to be dependant on the whim of someone who hated them.

The guard frowned as he noticed Morda begin to grow agitated as the talks continued. "Scavengers have tried to do that before. Just watch and you'll probably see exactly what she does to win."

"I'm not asking for much Overlord" Annea droned, slightly raising her voice to gather attention. She had a flair for theatrics after all. "I just want the rest of the payment as well as a few extra krogan to act as guards for my establishment. You all know I pay well."

"It isn't that simple and you know it angara..." Morda growled, clenching her fists to suppress her rage at the blatant blackmail. "We paid in advance with most of our money for that water. You can't just up the price after the deal was already made!"

"I can and I will" the angara female chuckled condescending as she pulled out a comm unit from her pocket. "Now are you going to pay the rest of my money or not?" Morda simply crossed her arms over her chest, staring down the crooked merchant. "Suit yourself" Annea said with a shrug before keying the comm. "Dump it!" The back of the shuttle slowly opened up, the water pouring from it down into the pit where the churning sand darkened for a moment before it was swallowed up. "Maybe I'll try again in a few weeks after you've had time to think about it" she said as she turned to head back towards her ship.

A sharp crack signaled to the crew of the Tempest that Harry had changed position again. A dozen sets of eyes furiously scanned the area before Sara found the wizard now standing on top of the empty water tank half embedded in the cliff side by the landing pad. The wizard had perfected the _aguamenti_ spell to an art form from the repeated use of it as a means of propulsion through space, reaching the point where it barely took any magical energy to cast a moderate stream of water. Harry was setting out to make a point though. The wizard set both arms out in front of himself, palms open and fingers spread as he directed the remnant crystals imbedded in his gloves toward the tanks. With a surge of power, a torrent of water surged from his hands and into the container. It rapidly filled to the top in less than a minute, whereupon he repeated the process with the remaining two tanks next to the first. Cutting off the flow, he wobbled for a second before steadying himself and reappearing next to his group again. Ignoring the utter silence around him, he simply looked around as if he was still playing tourist.

Scott facepalmed at the unsubtlety shown by his friend before slowly turning back to Morda. "Even if you don't claim to be Initiative any more, we still consider you to be. We look after each other." Turning back to his crew, he signaled for them to return to the Nomad. There was work to be done.

They left behind a krogan base, populated with a traditionally isolationist species who now was beginning to question the benefits of leaving the Initiative after all. Morda watched the strange human who had performed the impossible, her memory slowing jogging itself with something she had read before. She returned to her throne room, intent on reviewing the reports Kesh had sent back to her people about the events happening on the Nexus. The Overlord had concentrated on the return of Jien Garson and the negotiations with her afterwards. Apparently there was more going on than she had initially suspected.

On the landing pad, Annea's body shook with barely suppressed rage as she glared at the full tanks of water. If she didn't act quickly, word would begin to reach the other groups of outcasts in the desert and her monopoly would be at an end. And all the ill will she had built up with the local populace would come back for revenge. It was either going to be the wizard or her walking away from this alive, not both. She paused at the sound of a throat clearing behind her, finding a large krogan looking shifty as he glanced around the area to make sure he wasn't being watched. Feeling the beginning of an opportunity, she held the door to the shuttle open for the overgrown lizard before entering it herself. Plans needed to be put into motion.

XXXXXX

"Harry, I swear to every god that exists… do you have any idea of how stupid that stunt of yours was?"

Said wizard merely rolled his eyes as the sand dunes flew by. There was so little life to be found in the sand that he could swear that they were driving in circles if not for the fact that the sun's position in the sky hadn't changed. "They needed hope Sara. You know how I feel about bullying. I wasn't going to just stand by and watch something like that happen to the krogan."

"He's right sis" Scott sounded off from behind the wheel of the tank as he navigated towards the second remnant pillar. "That most likely gained us just as much good will in one move than Jien managed to in the last two months." He shifted in his seat enough to let him see her out of the corner of his eye while still concentrating on the road. "We just dumped the other two teams so they could do their own missions. Now that there's plenty of room, why the hell are you still sitting on Harry?"

"Because I earned it" she said, crossing her arms and giving him a pout. She celebrated as she watched him roll his eyes before turning back to the mission. Even after all these years, she still could win any argument between them the moment she stuck her lip out. She slouched a little so she could lay her head on the wizard's shoulder, turning her head so she could watch the side of his face. "I'm serious Harry. It might have been a good thing you did, but you just painted a giant bull eye on your back. Water's probably the most precious resource here and you just showed you can generate it on command. Every psycho and nutjob here will be looking for you, and there's a planet full of them."

"Leave the runt alone" Drack offered up his opinion from the cargo hold. Being the only one back there now that Liam and the angara had squeezed into the back seat, he had taken the opportunity to set up his hammock again. "He's already a fight magnet. Why do you think I always stay around him? It never gets boring…" he trailed off with a chuckle, before he began to snore like a power saw again.

'Deja vu' the three humans in the front seat all thought at the same time, their minds going back to the deserts of Eos where they encountered their first remnant architect. How times had changed since back then when the remnant were their biggest problem.

The Nomad rolled to a stop at the base of the second tower, the sun baking off of the hood of the tank hot enough to set off the environmental alarms. 'Hell no...' the Pathfinder thought to himself as he looked at the readings, before turning to his sister who already was giving him a death look like she had read his thoughts. Powering through the feelings of dread, he laid down his authority. "Let's split up to handle these towers at the same time. I'll drop you off here with Harry and Darra, then head across the valley with the rest to finish up the last one. We'll come back and get you later."

"That's bullshit and you know it!" his twin contested heatedly, not taking the slight laying down. "You just want to stay out of the sun for as long as possible." Before the argument could pickup, the door was pushed open to her right before Harry slithered out from beneath her and jumped down to the sand. He was joined a moment later by Darra, the angara looping her arm around his as she looked at the cave opening suspiciously. Scott's smug grin said more than words ever could as he watched his twin grit her teeth in anger as her choice was stolen from her by her own team. "This isn't over!" she vowed, punching him in the arm before jumping out of the vehicle and slamming the hatch shut.

The tank took off as soon as she was clear, a fan tail of sand spewed in the air as it flew over the dunes. Sara glared daggers at Harry, unable to find the words to describe how pissed off she was at him for getting her effectively marooned in a sea of sand. The wizard ignored her in favor of pulling out his wand. A swish over Darra caused the angara to actually shiver before she hugged her arms to herself while looking at him in wonder. Sara saw the wand pointed at her next. She closed her eyes in anticipation, yet never feeling anything but trust for her love interest. She was rewarded a moment later as what felt like a small blast of arctic wind blew past her before her body felt the perfect temperature, not too hot, and not too cold. "Why didn't you tell the other's about this?" she couldn't help but blurt out, unable to resist giving him a hug for his gift.

"It would have worn off the moment the magic was disrupted by biotics so it wasn't much use to the other groups that broke off earlier." He gave her a quick smile as he returned the hug before pulling her and Darra towards the remnant control panel. "Besides… your brother's a dick for throwing us out like that. Let him sweat it out for a bit."

She giggled. Then she snorted. She honest to god snorted. She was mortified, her face flushing red as she quickly looked away. He stared at her in confusion before a grin slowly spread across his face. "I've watched you beat down a human and an asari in a contest of strength in the last hour before you punted a krogan halfway through a sand dune. And you're worried about me hearing you snort?" He bumped his shoulder into hers as he passed by on his way up to the console. "You know it's this stuff that makes you unique and what people like you for right? Don't hide it." He bent over the console, trying to find any sign of power. He was unaware that her embarrassment had given way to a soft smile as the powerful biotic took in his observation.

Darra hadn't missed the byplay though. It warmed her heart to see how a few kind words were able to turn someone's day around. Compliments and physical gestures of affection were standard for every angara. Her people were always open with their emotions and firmly believed that to hold in your emotions was to deny the joy that you could bring to your family. With this in mind, she walked up to Sara before leaning in and giving her a soft hug of her own. ""He's right" she assured the surprised woman, holding the hug until she felt a pair of arms tentatively wrap around her shoulders and hug back. "Never let others' opinions stop you from being who you want to be." With that, the angara joined the wizard at the top of the stairs. She took the opportunity to run her hand through his hair again as she leaned over his shoulder, doing her best to offer helpful suggestions as he tried to activate the console.

Sara watched the byplay from the base of the platform, surprised that there wasn't a single feeling of jealousy. Looking back at it from an outside perspective though, she realized that both of them had done nothing more than reinforce her when she needed it while expecting nothing in return. She still had every intention of pursuing Harry until he returned her feelings fully, but it felt nice that she finally might have a female friend that didn't have to be a rival too. She activated her connection to SAM as she climbed up the platform, joining the others.

XXXXXX

Scott groaned in relief as his team entered the remnant vault. Once he crossed the threshold and left the sunlight, the temperature had significantly dropped. He stopped short as he noticed he was the only one with such a reaction. Drack, Jaal, and Darra he could understand; alien physiology never made sense to humans. Sara and Harry looked fresh and dry though, as if they had just come off of the Tempest instead of trekking across a desert in the sweltering heat.

His interrogation was interrupted before it could begin though, as Sara took Harry's arm in her own and leapt into the gravity well. The other's soon followed, finding themselves in a dark atrium leading to the interior of the remnant facility. All was quiet as they triggered the door, following the path down a bridge over a seemingly bottomless gorge. Random debris lay in piles on the ground, signs of heavy combat happening some time in the past. The team had made it halfway across the effective no-man's-land when the sound of metal grinding off of rock began to fill the room. Three of the piles near the end of the bridge began to shake before a large metallic rectangle with a small set of tripod legs popped out of them. The three robots seemed to be wander in circles in confusion, the sight so comical that it halted the standard attack plan the team had been set to implement.

One of the robots crashed into another, sending them reeling backwards as they tried to stay upright. Sara's giggle at the comical sight was like a twig snapping in a forest. All three machines spun on their legs to face the intruders, the single red eye in the middle of each block glowed an ominous red. " _Intruders!_ " the wizard heard hissed out, causing him to go rigid. " _State your access level immediately or be terminated with extreme prejudice!"_

Harry wasted no time, an overpowered blasting spell collapsed the bridge in between the two groups. Using both hands to speed up the process, he summoned the broken pieces before they could fall into the canyon. Three meter thick pillars were built using the new building material, giving the team cover as they immediately followed the wizard's example. It wasn't a moment too soon as gatling gun arms rolled out of each side of the rectangular robots, six streams of energy rounds now pinning the team behind cover.

"I don't think we're going to be heading forward" Scott called from the center pillar he was sharing with Sara. They had concentrated fire on a single machine, but the heavy shields mitigated their biotics and recharged too quickly for their guns to damage. The remnant tanks began strafing left and right in hopes of cutting the angles enough to hit their targets, but were unable to move forward enough to achieve a hit with the bridge out. It seemed to be a stalemate before Darra of all people pulled a fast one. Pulling out one of Harry's special grenades, she quickly pitched it over the gap. She ducked back down in cover again, but her shields were dropped from a stream of rounds, the last two catching her in the side of her torso and drawing blood. Jaal quickly began to administer first aid as the explosive went off, enveloping the middle robot in a dome of white light. The machine's shields protected it from the magical effect, but the bridge below it disappear into nothingness. The walking tank let out a shrill whistle as it tumbled into the darkness, still trying to draw a bead on the bridge with it's guns while it was in sight.

The defenders let out a ragged cheer at the small victory, one third of the attacking force now dealt with. This fact was not ignored by the remaining remnant either. Both tanks stopped dead before their center torsos seemed to open up, exposing their sensitive components. The purpose of this became clear moments later as energy seemed to visibly began to focus around their red eyes. Harry watched this with dread, placing his hands onto his pillar and channeling his magic to rapidly harden the stone as much as he could. Scott and Sara combined their biotic fields into one large shield that the placed between them and their stone cover. The angara pair watched all this before bunkering down as best as they could while a bioelectric field seemed to coat their bodies.

Without further warning, the remnant fired. Angry red beams of energy, the width of basketballs slammed into the wizard's pillar before it exploded spectacularly sending him and the krogan tumbling. Wasting no time, the robots walked the beams across both of the other pillars as well. The twins and the angara fared no better, the combination of energy beam and rock shrapnel doing a number on their shields and armor, leaving them sprawled and smoking out in the open on the bridge.

It was a surprise that death didn't immediately follow as they slowly gathered themselves. The tanks remained stationary on their side of the gap, lights barely flickering and shields non existent as they tried to recharge after expending all of their power in one attack. "We can't let them recover!" Ryder exclaimed while leveling his assault rifle at the left attacker and holding down the trigger. Three guns soon joined him, the combined fire beginning to peel the robot's armor off as it squawked in alarm.

Harry slowly pushed himself up from where he was sprawled out on the ground, his ears ringing as he fought a monster of a headache. There had been a significant magical backlash when the pillar was blown up while he was still feeding into it, knocking him out momentarily when he hit the bridge. A snore to his right caused him to look over at the snoozing krogan with disbelief. Drack lay upside down with his legs in the air and an arm thrown over his eyes to block the light. Rolling his eyes, Harry quickly kicked the krogan in the side of the hump before firing his rifle at the robot who had been left alone up to that moment. It was showing signs of booting back up as it's appendages began to cycle themselves. That was more than could be said for the apparently narcoleptic krogan who remained asleep at his side. Realizing he was out of time, Harry sent a blasting curse at the remnant, sending it tumbling over on it's side.

Using the moment he bought himself, he quickly levitated Drack off of the ground. The krogan awoke with a snort at the sudden loss of gravity, his limbs flailing as he tried to make sense of what was happening. He froze as he took in Scott and his crew whittling away at their robot, before he rotated enough to see Harry keeping him in the air with a raised hand. "Pull your shotgun and prepare yourself" the wizard commanded, his tone leaving no room for argument as the dinosaur rushed to ready his weapon. "Get ready" Drack heard as he was raised a little higher.

The krogan tensed as he watched the wizard turn towards the lumbering remnant who was slowly working itself right side up again. "Now" Harry called out, flinging his arm at their enemy. Instead of a streak of spell light, the large form of a krogan hurtled across the gap before crashing shoulder first into the tank. The robot fell over again with an angry bleat while the Drack cursed to himself as he rolled end over end to the base of the bridge. A loud crack heralded the arrival of the wizard beside him before the dinosaur's arm was grabbed and he was pulled to his feet with a grunt. To their horror, the robot had given up on righting itself. Instead, it began to gather energy again from where it lay on its side at the edge of the bridge, the eye pointing directly at Scott and the others as they worked to finish off their own target.

"No time for anything fancy runt" the krogan growled as he lowered his stance before charging forward. His shoulder met the robot's chassis with a crash before the metal began to grind as it slid across the stone. It was going too slow though! He strained his body, his fake kneecap feeling like it would rupture if he went any harder when he felt a second impact next to him. Looking over, he couldn't help but grin as he watched Harry strain to push. A blood vein was pulsing on the wizards temple as he unconsciously used his magic to enhance his body's strength. They both gave a shout of victory as the robot tumbled over the side of the gap, it's laser firing downwards as it went with enough intensity to light the sides of the chasm until it faded into blackness. A heavy crash signaled the last robot's demise as it gave up the battle with the Pathfinder.

Harry looked to the rest of the team as they gathered themselves, intent on jumping over when a large clawed hand fell on his shoulder. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell the others about what happened Harry" the reptile's voice was so low that the wizard barely heard it.

He knew just how serious Drack was though, considering this was the first time he had ever used the wizard's real name before. "What the hell happened back there anyways?" he asked in the same volume, not turning around to avoid suspicion from the others. "That was the worst timing for a nap I've ever seen."

The krogan snorted in laughter as he let his hand drop before he sobered up. "It's old age catching up with me. Krogans rarely live this long so it's not common knowledge anymore. The fact that I'm missing a good chunk of my organs and had parts of my body replaced by prosthetics after a failed suicide attempt while I was a bodyguard means I'm running on borrowed time."

"Then why the hell are you even here with us?" the wizard demanded, having to forcefully remind himself to keep his voice down. "You should be with Kesh, spending your time with your family. Not here in a hell hole like this."

"I'm doing it for Kesh!" Drack returned with a growl. He breathed in deeply before trying to explain again. He wasn't one for discussions like this. "I'm doing the only thing I know how to so I can help build a better world for my adopted daughter and her family. This is my contribution to my people in their new start and it's how I want to be remembered by them." He stared off at the distance, seeing something that no one else could. "Don't take that from me Harry."

"Fine… Fine!" the wizard said in disgust with himself for not being able to stand up to his friend. "But this is on you if something happens. Now hurry your old ass up and let's get the rest of them over here so we can finish this bloody mission." He turned to start forward when he was slapped hard across the back, making him stumble not to fall on his face.

"Thanks runt!" the krogan said cheerfully as he lowered his arm back down. The wizard just grumbled to himself as he used a _reparo_ to build the bridge again before starting the task of making portkeys for everyone. This team was going to be the death of him.

 **A/N: Had to split the chapter into two pieces. It was getting too long. I could have just put it out there in one large reading, but then you would start to expect that kind of effort all the time. Fuck that.**

 **Fighting those remnant destroyers was a damn nightmare in the game. They don't pop up until you're getting decently far in. At that point you're absolutely owning everything that pops up, then out of nowhere a giant shielded bipedal tank pops up to bitch slap you back down and you have to start taking cover again. They do a good job of reminding you of your mortality when you start feeling like a biotic god.**

 **Sara is finally feeling less threatened, Darra is branching out, Drack is finally owning up to his age, and Harry has painted another giant bullseye on his back. Good times. Thanks for reading and hope to see you next time.**

 **Oh, and Subnautica is scary as hell when you play it at night with the lights out and the sound up**


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Fury Road Pt.1

The Nomad baked in the sun outside the entrance to Elaaden's structure. There was a periodic rumble in the background as the remnant abyssals swam through the sand a few miles away, but nothing moved anywhere within the valley of the vault. It was so silent you could hear the crackle of the sand as wind gusts caused mini avalanches on the sides of the dunes as they tore through.

The peace was interrupted as pair of near simultaneous flashes, followed by a *Woosh* of air being displaced. Two angara were unceremoniously dumped in the sand as they rolled to a stop. They lay there unmoving with their eyes closed, silently willing their stomachs to stop rebelling before the food paste from their last meals made a sudden reappearance. A second set of flashes heralded the arrival of Scott and Drack. The krogan landed on his knees with a growl before pitching forward as he waited for his equilibrium to right itself. To Scott's surprise, he'd activated his biotics at the last second allowing him to maintain his balance and land on his feet. He let out a silent cheer at the accomplishment, making a note to hold it over the others for later bragging rights. A loud crack signaled the arrival of the last two of the team, Sara leaning into Harry with her arms solidly locked around his neck.

The wizard arched his eyebrow at the Pathfinder not laying in a pile of sand, sending a quiet nod to the man who grinned back in pride. Any potential conversation was interrupted by a grinding of gears as a large antenna emerged from the top of the remnant bunker. Green light glowed at the base of the structure before slowly funneling itself up the antenna to the tip where it began to grow brighter in intensity as the energy built up. The team watched as a pencil thin laser launch from the alien equipment straight up into the air where it came into contact with the meeting point of the the beams of the three remnant pylons. As the energies met together, a bright flash blinded everyone within viewing distance. When his eyes recovered enough to be of use, Harry saw that all of the remnant energy was now being directed upwards into the moon's atmosphere where the beam seemed to dissipate into the sky.

"Pathfinder" SAM's voice emitted from all their omnitools simultaneously, "The average temperature around the planet has already dropped by two degrees celcius and is continuing to slowly decrease. The remnant terraforming seems to have risen the amount of ozone in the atmosphere, allowing for more of the sun's rays to be reflected back out into space"

"That's an understatement!" Kallo's voice came in from the Tempest as it orbited the moon above them. "Watching atmospheric conditions change in real time before our very eyes! Enormous cloud systems are forming in different parts of the moon that are reaching into the upper troposphere! They're also causing electromagnetic interference. Communications will most likely be intermittent at best for next few days as atmosphere ionizes. Suggest finishing tasks up quickly and returning to ship before air travel becomes impossible."

"Get me a status check on the other teams Kallo" Scott ordered. "We'll make for the krogan colony in the meantime. Set that as the rendezvous for all groups so we can get picked up."

" _Copy Ryder"_ came the reply before his omnitool winked off. Looking up, Scott found he was the only one left in the desert. The rest of his team stared at him from the windows on the Nomad, waiting for him to realize that he was still out in the heat. Thunder echoed in the distance as black clouds could be seen slowly rolling through the sky as they began to envelope the moon. The Pathfinder quickly climbed into the tank, throwing it into gear and speeding off. Their window to escape was closing fast.

XXXXXX

A krogan ground crawler tore into the colony's vehicle bay at top speed, the wheels skidding across the sand as the brakes were applied at the last second. The doors were sliding open even as the engine whined while shutting down after being strained to it's red zone. Dropping down onto the sand, Avitus's eyes were already scanning the colony for the rest of the Pathfinder team. The Turian Pathfinder spotted Ryder and Harry sitting on top of the Nomad where they had parked near the front of the base. He gathered up his fellow turians and Liam before double timing it to their ride, stealing glances at the darkening sky as he went. "We found the water!" he called out as he came to a stop, gesturing for his team to get in the cargo bay. "Kallo told us to come back here before we were able to secure it though. I marked it and had SAM upload the coordinates so we could follow up later." He exchanged a quick fist bump with the wizard as he climbed up next to them. "Where's everyone else at?"

"They're all asleep inside." Harry said while lightly patting the tank beneath him. "I enlarged the cargo bay and made some duplicates of Drax's hammock. It won't last for more than a few hours but everyone is taking advantage while they can. There still should be one left for you too if you want it."

Avitus shook his head, enjoying the moment of quiet while activating his omnitool and begin updating his SAM node. "I'm too wired to even think of sleeping right now. I'm finally helping out our people. I just wish there was more I could be doing right now."

"I know the feeling" Scott said as he sat himself down in between the wizard and his turian counterpart. "It wasn't originally my job either, but I'm going to do it to the best of my abilities. It's what dad would have wanted." He paused, considering something before fully turning his torso to face the turian. "There's something serious that we need to discuss while we're waiting for Sarissa and her team to arrive."

"What?" the turian asked in confusion, unsure to what the human was hinting at. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, nothing like that" the human assured him quickly. Stealing a glance to make sure the wizard wasn't paying attention, he leaned in to whisper. "We need to work on a secret Pathfinder handshake. Our jobs are just too high profile to not have one."

"We never did anything like that in the Spectres…" the turian hedged, unsure as to what the possible motivation could be for something like what the human was suggesting.

"There's loads of benefits" the human Pathfinder reasoned, unwilling to let the matter go. "It's another form of identification between us, as well as a form of greeting that only an elite few will ever get to take part in. Consider it a perk of rank. Now hold your fist out" he ordered, raising up his own fist to mimic his instructions.

Harry watched out of the corner of his eye with a smirk as two of the leaders of the Milky Way species attempted to develop their special Pathfinder club. He recorded a few minutes of the session before forwarding it to Sarissa. His omnitool lit up a second later with a reply ' _Magic Man, I need the rest of the team here now! We found the drive core but it's under heavy guard. There's hundreds of scavengers all over the place.'_

He gave Scott a kick to the shin, breaking the Pathfinders impromptu meeting up as he worked on typing up a message. " _Where are you? We need to get off planet soon or we might be stuck here for who knows how long."_

Scott leaned over his shoulder, quickly adding a line on to the message. ' _Can we recover it at a later date?'_

 _'No! They're prepping it for transport and if we lose track of it now, then we might never get it back!'_ was the quick reply. The follow up message arriving less than a second later. ' _I need backup at the flophouse now!'_ A set of coordinates were included, indicating a location at the bottom of a canyon to the west.

"I guess we better get moving" Scott observed as he sat back in his original position. He quickly forwarded the conversation to Morda, along with their intent to retrieve the core before the storm could arrive. "We can let the others sleep on the way there and wake them up for a briefing a few kilometers out."

The silence lasted for a moment as the three mentally prepared themselves for the upcoming fight, before the sounds of someone approaching drew their attention. Avitus watched the pack of approaching krogan with a gimlet eye, his hand slowly drifting down to rest on his holstered pistol to the alarm of his companions. "That's Jorgul Strux" he informed his friends sotto voce, his mouth flanges barely moving in hope of hiding the conversation. "He contacted us back at The Paradise after my team split off from you. He was trying to sell us on a wild theory, but I cut him off before he could really get into it. Anyone who runs security for Annea after what she did to the other krogan obviously has different loyalties than us." Raising his voice, he turned his head to the approaching group of krogan. "What the hell do you want now Strux?"

Said krogan crossed his arms, frowning at the rude greeting. His crew growled at the blatant disrespect but none acted past returning the glares from the turian. "Nothing from you bird" he returned, his voice noticeably higher than those of Drack and Morda. Harry had to stifle a grin when he heard it, choosing instead to ready a spell in his mind in case any of the dinosaurs grew too aggressive for civilized discourse.

Strux continued around the back of the Nomad until he faced Scott, deliberately ignoring the turian Pathfinder. "Ryder. I tried to inform this one of a possible threat to the Initiative but he wouldn't listen. I'm hoping you're more willing to work with a fellow member of the Milky Way." Scott made a 'get on with it' gesture, ignoring the snort of disgust from his fellow Pathfinder. He would at least hear the krogan out, if for nothing else than seeing what factions might exist in the krogan camp.

"Morda's planning on betraying the Initiative after you get her that core. She's going to lead an attack to take over the Nexus and place herself in charge. You need to be prepared." the krogan finished with a low growl before looking around to make sure they weren't being observed. "Now I need to leave before I'm suspected of colluding with the enemy. Good luck Pathfinder." The group of krogan quickly hustled off, entering the base through one of the side tunnels.

"Well that doesn't make it any more complicated…" Scott trailed off with an eye roll. "Either of you have an opinion on the matter?"

"We shouldn't even be listening to him" Avitus quickly returned, shaking his head. "I met Morda before we left the Milky Way. She may be aggressive, but she was nothing but straight forward. She's more likely to walk up to you, threaten to punch you in the face, then actually punch you in the face. This sounds nothing like her and Jien trusts her as well."

Harry sat still for a minute, going over all the information in his head. "I'd still give the core to the krogan. If we renege on the agreement now, it destroys any credibility that the Initiative has managed to build up." He pushed himself to his feet, balancing on the top of the Nomad as he looked down at the two sitting Pathfinders. "Either way we need to go now. Sarissa doesn't seem like the type of person to be kept waiting."

He used the hand hidden from their view to cast a quick spell, mentally frowning at the amount of power it took before jumping down to the sand. The moon's ambient magic was some of the lowest he had seen yet. "I don't care which one of you is driving, but I call shotgun" he called over his shoulder as he quickly climbed into his favorite seat and closed the door.

The wizard cracked the window, grinning as he heard the angry shouts as the two pathfinders realized that they were magically stuck to the tank where they sat. A pushing match soon commenced as both leaders fought to free themselves first and take over the driver's seat while banishing their adversary to the cargo hold. This continued for a good ten seconds before Scott had a brainstorm, quickly sending a pulse of biotics through his body to cancel the wizard's spell and racing to the driver's side door. He ignored the angry squawk from the turian Pathfinder as he gunned the engine before throwing it in gear and peeling out. The krogan guards watched the tank depart the base, the turian doing a wonderful impression of a spoiler on the back of the Initiative vehicle as it disappeared into the distance.

XXXXXX

Sarissa stared up at the sky with apprehension as she waited at the top of the canyon. Cora and PeeBee were still in position, monitoring the outcasts while their leader awaited her reinforcements. A low rumbling noise heralded the arrival of the Nomad minutes before it became visible as it approached her position. She cringed at the noise, praying to the Goddess that the enemy wasn't allerted by the heavy engine.

She signaled the team to maintain silence as they approached, indicating with her finger to the enemy on the other end of the canyon. Sending a quick signal to gather her team, she lead the group behind a large rock formation to ensure they remained out of sight. Once they gathered, she allowed Magic Man to cast a spell that surrounded them in a bubble of white noise. Once he nodded, she wasted no time with a quick, down and dirty briefing that was hallmark of the huntress packs. "The core is loaded on a truck in a cave at the base of the hill behind me. You can't see all of them, but there is at least three hundred raiders spread out in the canyon that rings us. They all are independent, but still answer to the one local boss who controls the fresh water in the area. She's the one who 'owns' the core, so I would imagine we'll be fighting everyone at once if we try to take it."

"Kalo" Scott interrupted, determined to get to the heart of the matter. "How soon can you be down here to pick us and the remnant core up? We're working with a tight window and will be under enemy fire."

" _Negative on pickup Ryder._ " It was getting difficult to pick up the salarian's voice over the growing background static. " _Ionization from global storm has locked down planet's surface from anything past thirty meters in the air. There's a good chance the Tempest will crash like the remnant ship did, waiting for some future race to recover its own drive core for salvage._ "

"Can't you just portkey it along with us back to the colony" Avitus asked his magical friend. The turian couldn't figure out why the wizard hadn't avoided this whole song and dance by offering up his services.

Harry frowned as he looked up at the black clouds that were massing overhead. Lightning could now be seen as it danced between them while thunder echoed across the sky. "I really don't think that is something we should be doing right now. Magical transport is finicky in the best of times, let alone with something like a giant remnant core." He conjured a string, before tying it around a plant sticking out of the sand and casting a portus on it. The plant disappeared in a flash of light, only to reappear a moment later in the exact same place. Where once was a healthy desert shrub, now only a charred husk remained. "That's going to be a no" Harry informed the turian as he wrinkled his nose at the smell of burnt ozone.

"Ok…" Sarissa commented, her face reflecting the frustration on display from her two counterparts. "Plan C it is…" She raised up her omnitool and opened up a comm line. "Morda, It's Pathfinder Sarissa. We found your drivecore at the main raider base, but are facing a couple hundred enemies and have no air support. Can you mobilize your clan to help us get the core back to your base?"

" _Where the hell have you been? I've been trying to contact you for the last hour!_ " The krogan leader's rage filled voice did not promise anything good in the near future. "J _orgul Strux just informed me that he overheard your plan to take the core off planet for Initiative use instead!_ " The group looked at each other in disbelief, the doublecross they were being accused of sounding almost too ham handed to belong anywhere besides a soap opera. _"I'm not risking my people in a potential ambush to help a pack of possible traitors! This is your last chance to prove that the Initiative can be trusted at all. Get me my core or never set foot on this moon again!_ " No one said a word as they all stared at the darkened omnitool in shock at how quickly the help request had gone sideways.

Harry was playing with a stick that he had pulled out of the ground as the conversation was going on. Drawing the letters A, B and C in the sand, he crossed them out before drawing an equally large F next to them. "Sounds like plan F is ready for activation."

"F for FUBAR?" Sara asked with a grin, enjoying the moment of levity.

"Definitely FUBAR" Liam agreed with a grin. The other humans nodding as well.

"What does FUBAR mean?" Peebee could be heard whispering to the other aliens, only to receive blank looks in return. The asari pouted, not enjoying being left out of the joke.

"Scott, can you have SAM display a map of the local area on the sand here?" Harry asked as he indicated the spot in front of himself. He used the stick to mark a path in the sand through the 3D map, starting at their current location and ending at the krogan colony. "As far as I can tell, this looks like the quickest route to the krogan colony. Can we steal the transport and drive straight for the base with the Nomad escorting it?"

"Yeah... " the Asari Pathfinder said as she slowly circled the map, her brain flying through the different options. "That just might work if we're quick enough about it while they're still prepping for evacuating for higher ground. Liam drives the Nomad with Vetra and Jaal riding shotgun with some heavy weapons. The rest of us take up positions to defend the transport while Avitus drives with Darra in the cab with him."

"I like it. The normals are protected by armor while the rest of us help defend the transport!" Peebee chirped as she joined Harry at the map while ignoring the frowns from said normals. She took the opportunity to loop her arm around his and lean into his personal space. It had been far too long since they had been together in any form of privacy. To be fair, she had isolated herself in her escape pod on the Tempest to work on her secret project until recently. "I call dibs on Harry as my battle buddy!" she exclaimed, proud that she had been first. Let it not be said that she had not learned her lesson in the battles for the shotgun position.

"That's cute, but no" Sarissa said, killing her fellow asari's happy thoughts as she pulled the wizard back towards herself. "Scott and Sara will be stationed at the back of the transport with Magic Man to face any pursuers since they have some of the strongest biotics around. Peebee, Cora, Vitesa and myself will space ourselves out around the transport to provide barrier support." She looked up at the rest of the group as they all crowded around her, "Any questions?"

"Yeah, I have one" Liam said with his hand half raised. "What about Drack? What'll he be doing?"

"Close combat support" the krogan uttered with an entirely straight face. The elderly dinosaur detached a strange looking gun from his belt, grinning as the early members of the crew recognized it as one of Harry's inventions. Pointing the gun away from the group, the krogan squeezed the trigger. A bright orange flame shot twenty feet out of the handgun before the flame deepened into a dark red color, the heat it gave off wafting over the crew. A pathway of fused glass was left in the flame's wake, the only proof left behind of the weapon's deadly capabilities. "Trust me" the krogan assured the ex-cop, "if they make it all the way to me, it won't end well for them."

"You gave the krogan a flamethrower?!" Avitus exclaimed as he turned towards the wizard in disbelief. "Krogan have no sense of restraint in a battle rage, and you gave him a way to multiply his destructive capabilities to just short of a battlemaster. Why the hell didn't you just make a gun that shoots plagues and hand it to a salarian while you were at it."

"Not to throw rocks in a glass house…" Vetra mumbled from the back of the group, "but the salarians only made the genophage. It was our people that used it."

Avitus stared at her in silence for a moment before giving a sharp nod, "Point." Turning towards Harry, he suddenly switched to the turian version of the puppy eyes, flanges drooping while he looked down at the ground. "Can I please get a flamethrower too?"

"Oh for the love of Merlin" the wizard muttered to himself at the pathetic sight before him. "Fine, I'll make you one. But you have to collect the ingredients for it yourself!" He brought a hand to his chin as a sudden thought wormed its way to the front of his brain. "I wonder if I could do something with the runes from the pair of vanishing cabinets that I packed…" He ambled towards the back of the group, not caring about the meeting any more as he began to record notes on his omnitool.

"How long do we have before we have to move" Vitesa questioned the Pathfinders, her mind still on the mission. The answer came not from any of her leaders, but from nature herself. A large fat raindrop fell from the sky and landed on the sand a few feet from the group. It evaporated on contact with the heated sand but it's impact left a small crater to show where it had hit.

"Pathfinder" SAM's voice immediately came from Scott's omnitool, grabbing the group's attention. "The rain is evaporating at the moment but is cooling the sand at a rapid rate. Very soon the moisture will remain on the ground until the water builds up enough to cause flash flooding."

"It looks like this is happening now people" Scott said as he waved his hand in the air in a circle. "Mount up in the Nomad and let's head to to the transport's location. This is going to be a quick and dirty assault and we don't stop until all defenders are neutralized. If someone falls, patch them up and leave them somewhere safe until we can come back for them. Let's move out!"

"Shotgun!" Harry called, disappearing with a crack.

XXXXXX

Jorgul Strux growled to himself, unable to suppress the twitch of his hand as he yearned to draw his weapon and shoot the leader of the raiders. The krogan had come to offer him and his team's support to guarding the remnant core, on loan courtesy of his employer Annea. Instead of a thank you that he was expecting, the raiders treated his team with barely suppressed scorn. Whispers of 'traitors' and 'betrayers' echoed around him as he walked through the base, bringing his bloodrage dangerously close to the surface as the worked to suppress the murderous instincts before he snapped.

The only one who showed him even a modicum of respect was Kerie, the asari who ruled over the flophouse and all who dwelled within. She had been placed high in the Eclipse Mercenaries before being presumed dead in a ship explosion, only to pop back up on the Nexus like she had never disappeared with a new purple tint to what had been her previously sky blue skin. Jorgul barely had barely recognized her, even after working with her on a few jobs back in the Milky Way. The only thing that gave her away was her laugh, a throaty sounding chuckle that could almost be mistaken for a growl if you didn't see the smile on her face. He had hoped it would be like old times with her, only to realize that she had begun to succumb to the same insanity that had plagued the rest of the outcasts. Finding a potential mate and getting into fights were the only things that motivated her now a days.

Kerie had risen through the ranks of the outcasts to the leadership position in record time, using the water storage in the flophouse to attract all of the outcasts who had taken root on Elaaden in the hopes that her future mate would come along. No one had survived long enough to impress her and claim the spot as king of the outcasts. They all became braindead mere moments into the mating as her ardat-yakshi genetics took over and drained them of their life energy. Jorgul wanted no part of this drama, voluntarily staying as far away from her as possible once the clan had set up their new colony until his bosses orders had taken away his choice in the matter.

He was pulled from his thoughts as his eyes were attracted towards a trail of smoke coming from the vehicle hangar at the bottom of the ravine. He watched carefully as a group of aliens raced into the garage, the last one stopping at the door before raising his arms upwards. The air seemed to shimmer before the the damage and bodies disappear, a pristine entrance now showing to anyone curious enough to look. The krogan grinned to himself as he turned towards his tomkah, activating his omnitool to recall his followers. There was only one person he knew who had powers like that. He contemplated raising his voice to warn the base when the choice was made for him.

A blast echoed from the bottom of the canyon. The hangar door was blasted to pieces, leaving a gaping hole that led into the darkness of the base. The roar of an engine sounded before a gigantic cargo truck drove through the new gap, rapidly making its way towards the base's main gate in the distance. A large flash of light shot from the figure standing on top of the crane at the back of the vehicle, streaking towards the barrier. The blast wave reached the krogan before the sound this time, the gate's destruction marked by a dark cloud of smoke that stretched towards the sky as the truck and it's crew made their escape through the narrow path to the open desert.

The krogan grinned to himself in excitement at the prospect of battle. He climbed into the driver's seat of the tomkah, gunning the engine as he waited for his crew to pile in. A series of thumps allerted him to the krogan loading up while his second in command opened up the passenger side door to climb in. He only made it halfway through before he was surrounded in a biotic field and roughly yanked backwards into the sand. Jorgul cringed as a familiar asari clambered up into the seat next to him. All she had on was a pair of boots along with some grey shorts that barely covered any of her body, every curve on display through the skin tight material. Her breasts were contained within a camo print sports bra while a pair of goggles covered her eyes and fingerless leather gloves tightly gripped an assault rifle.

None of this drew the krogan's eyes though, they were fixed on the demented grin she had as she pounded on the tomkah's dashboard while staring at the fleeing vehicle. "Drive now!" she ordered, pointing a finger imperiously towards the truck in the distance. "They can't escape with something so valuable."

"I'm going" the krogan grunted as he threw the vehicle in gear. He'd have to swing back to pick his clansman up later on if the fool could survive the coming flood waters. "They won't be going anywhere too fast with the coming rains. You'll get your core back soon enough."

He yelped as a biotic encased hand slapped him upside the head, it's owner not even paying attention to him as she stared at the target in the distance like an alpha predator stalking its prey. "Fuck the drive core! I could care less about that pile of alien shit. The only reason she I took it in the first place was to piss off Morda and because I owed you one" she said with a snort before her tongue poked out, rubbing sensuously over her lips as her eyes rolled back in her head. "Can't you feel it Jorgul? He's finally here! The one who I've been waiting for! My king!" She leaned out of the window, firing at the truck ineffectively until it turned a corner in the canyon and pulled out of sight. "Now that I've felt him, there's no where he can run."

Jorgul side eyed the blue ball of crazy that sat next to him before scooting farther away from her and flooring the engine. The sooner she got her prize and he got her out of his car, the better for everyone.

 **A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, but Real Life calls. Working on moving my household and won't be able to return to writing for a month or two until life settles back into something resembling routine. This isn't abandoned, but definitely on hold.**

 **Every time I was playing on Elaaden, I couldn't help but wish they had taken more of a route of Mad Max or Borderlands. You have endless desert, an entire planet of certified crazies, alien tech, and freakin krogan. The recipe for win was strong here with all those ingredients, but all they did was 'rescue a drive core.' What a waste.**

 **To all those who ask if Harry will ever choose one person, the answer is 'who the hell knows?' I'm still at the point of introducing new characters into the story line and I strongly feel that the wizard needs more crazy in his life. With the exception of Kesh, all of his romantic choices are a little to goody two shoes vanilla. This isn't just a story with random lemon's thrown in, though if that's what you're after I have two other ones that do contain them. I'm paranoid about nuking this if some asshat reports it, and don't want to risk losing my work. Most of it is saved but who knows what kind of dumbassery can happen in the future.**

 **I fully intend on continuing the plot past the point that the game stopped at in a second story. The outline and timeline are already under construction, though I'm open to suggestions if anyone wants to contribute.**

 **But yeah… crazy bitches have appeared on the horizon, Harry is formulating new inventions again, and major plot shifts are inbound in the next few chapters as I try to divert this trainwreck of a storyline that bioware tried to sell off and then abandon. Thank you for reading and reviewing, you guys are the motivation to continue this.**


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